{"id":187303,"date":"2026-02-13T15:44:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T20:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/13\/building-skills-and-confidence-through-a-new-on-campus-cybersecurity-internship\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T05:10:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T10:10:13","slug":"building-skills-and-confidence-through-a-new-on-campus-cybersecurity-internship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/13\/building-skills-and-confidence-through-a-new-on-campus-cybersecurity-internship\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Skills and Confidence Through a New, On-campus Cybersecurity Internship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Building Skills and Confidence Through a New, On-campus Cybersecurity Internship<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.odu.edu\/article\/building-skills-and-confidence-through-a-new-campus-cybersecurity-internship<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-02-13 15:44:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.odu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

Author: <\/a><\/p>\n

Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points.
\n By Kelsey Kendall
\nOld Dominion University students are not waiting until graduation to do real cybersecurity work. Through a new pilot internship program, Monarchs are gaining hands-on experience protecting University systems, learning industry tools and building confidence that many professionals do not develop until years into their careers.
\nLaunched in Fall 2025, the cybersecurity internship places Monarch students inside the University\u2019s security operations center, where they train, alongside professional analysts, and respond to real alerts. The first cohort includes seven juniors and seniors in the cybersecurity program who began training at the beginning of the academic year and have reached a point where they can take on work more independently with a supportive network to help when they need it.\u00a0
\nSupervising the interns is Luke Watson, deputy chief information security officer in the Division of Digital Transformation and Technology, who said he wanted this to be an opportunity he would have jumped at when he was at these students\u2019stage.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re in a position where we can provide this opportunity and help these students acquire real-world skills,\u201d Watson said. \u201cThey can leave Old Dominion University having real IT security knowledge, which many don\u2019t get until three or five years into their careers.\u201d\u00a0
\nAiden West, a senior in cybersecurity with a minor in information technology from Yorktown, Virginia, said working in the University\u2019s Security Operations Center gives him and others in his cohort valuable experience to include on their resumes that will help them land interviews.\u00a0
\n\u201cThis kind of opportunity is once in a lifetime,\u201d Aiden said. \u201cExperience is necessary in the cybersecurity industry if you\u2019re trying to get a job.\u201d
\nBecause of this, cybersecurity students are required to complete internships, which ties directly into Old Dominion University\u2019s 2023-2028 Strategic Plan, \u201cForward-Focused: Where Innovation Meets Possibilities,\u201d goal to ensure students haveinternships or work-based learning opportunities before graduation by 2027. This goal reflects the University\u2019s commitment to graduating future-ready professionals prepared to enter and succeed in the workforce.\u00a0
\nIt is also a \u201cwin-win\u201d for the University, Watson said, because of the assistance it receives from interns in managing the volume of security alerts that need to be analyzed on a regular basis.\u00a0
\nJalen Walker, a senior in cybersecurity from Woodbridge, Virginia, is one of the interns working through these alerts and looking for potential phishing emails. The staff at the Security Operations Center supported him and others in the cohortthroughout the first semester of work, allowing the students to shadow analysts and be mentored by those in positions they are working toward.<\/p>\n

Jalen Walker, a senior in cybersecurity, works with Christian Coleman, a security analyst, while interning with the Security Operations Center at Old Dominion University.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe staff is as excited to come in just as much as we\u2019re excited,\u201d Jalen said, adding that the staff have helped with resumes and preparing for careers after graduation. \u201cThey really want to help us.\u201d
\nAlready, the experience is helping Jalen progress toward his career goals. When he attends career fairs and networking events, Jalen can talk about his experience using industry tools and programs few students have the chance to work with.\u00a0
\nAs this internship program continues, University leaders hope to expand opportunities for future cybersecurity students. For Aiden, Jalen and their peers, the experience has already reshaped what feels possible after graduation. By pairing classroom learning with real-work experience and professional-grade responsibility, Old Dominion University is helping students build the skills, confidence and connections to move directly into the workforce and make an immediate impact.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Building Skills and Confidence Through a New, On-campus Cybersecurity Internship https:\/\/www.odu.edu\/article\/building-skills-and-confidence-through-a-new-campus-cybersecurity-internship Publish Date: 2026-02-13 15:44:00…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":187304,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.odu.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/IMG_6535.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[24,25],"class_list":["post-187303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cybersecurity","tag-cybersecurity","tag-phishing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187303"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187303"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":187305,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187303\/revisions\/187305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}