{"id":201856,"date":"2026-04-02T15:54:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T19:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/02\/pittsburgh-area-high-schools-add-cybersecurity-classes-to-meet-growing-demand\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T07:50:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T11:50:23","slug":"pittsburgh-area-high-schools-add-cybersecurity-classes-to-meet-growing-demand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/02\/pittsburgh-area-high-schools-add-cybersecurity-classes-to-meet-growing-demand\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh-area high schools add cybersecurity classes to meet growing demand"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pittsburgh-area high schools add cybersecurity classes to meet growing demand<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/community.triblive.com\/news\/4016957<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-04-02 15:54:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: community.triblive.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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

Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points. <\/p>\n

Fueled by an interest in technology, Baylee Blanton taught herself to code in middle school.
\nShe\u2019d later join the robotics team, but that outside of that, couldn\u2019t find other outlets to pursue her passion. It wasn\u2019t until high school that she was able to get practical experience, landing a cybersecurity internship with the University of Pittsburgh.
\n\u201cThere was nowhere in Monroeville to get started if you\u2019re interested in this,\u201d said Blanton, 17 and a student at Gateway High School. \u201cI took it upon myself because I was so interested.\u201d
\nBut this year \u2014 Blanton\u2019s senior year \u2014 Gateway offered a new cybersecurity class for students.
\n\u201cIt pushed me to know, this is what I want to do,\u201d Blanton said. \u201cI\u2019m glad it\u2019s part of this curriculum. I wish it started sooner.\u201d
\nNationwide, under 4% of public high school students have access to even a single cybersecurity course, according to CyberSupply.org, a research website on cybersecurity classes in U.S. public high schools. Only 1.2% have access to a full pathway.
\nMeanwhile, the United States has more than 572,000 unfilled cybersecurity \u200bjobs. And the field is not slowing down: Employment of information security analysts is projected to grow 29% through 2034, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a lucrative and hot field right now,\u201d said Tyler Perhac, technology education teacher at Gateway. \u201cThere are way more job opportunities than candidates.\u201d
\nIn the field, cybersecurity experts need to go beyond the binary ones and zeros.
\n\u201cSo much of cybersecurity is a human element,\u201d he said. \u201cAI is going to help malicious attackers find what it needs quicker \u2014 but it\u2019s not going to eliminate the human need.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Certification in their hands\u2019
\nJeff Bland teaches cybersecurity at South Allegheny in the Mon Valley. On the first day of each class, he displays all the cybersecurity jobs available on CyberSeek.org.
\nCybersecurity is needed in virtually every field and profession, he said.
\n\u201cAt any moment, there\u2019s always going to be a deep need to fill cybersecurity positions,\u201d said Bland, who teaches in the middle school and high school. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to get kids with the certification in their hands. It\u2019s an outside school test and outside entity acknowledging that you can do the work.\u201d
\nBland said his classes prepare students to earn certifications of CompTIA\u2019s security and networking certifications. Those certifications help people enter the workforce.
\n\u201cI want to get kids national certifications that get them qualified to work right out of high school,\u201d said Bland, who previously taught cybersecurity classes at Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy, a magnet in the Pittsburgh Public Schools.
\nCyberSeek.org reports that 60% of cybersecurity job openings require a bachelor\u2019s degree or higher.
\nCertifications like CompTIA\u2019s security and networking credentials help students stand out, whether they\u2019re applying for jobs or for college, said Lynette Lortz, a cybersecurity teacher at South Fayette High School.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a field that changes so quickly and students have to constantly be learning,\u201d Perhac said. \u201cThey hire to see if you can continuously learn.\u201d
\nBlanton, the Gateway student, will attend Penn State and study cybersecurity. Her dream job is working as a cybersecurity analyst at Google.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s really booming,\u201d Blanton said of the industry. \u201cEspecially with AI and people interested in learning more technology, I feel everything is cybersecurity related. There\u2019s so many different fields to go into cybersecurity.\u201d
\n\u2018Eye-opener\u2019
\nCourses in South Fayette\u2019s cybersecurity program are open to all grade levels, Lortz said. The program started about three years ago through a partnership with Digital Promise and curriculum provider Paradigm Cyber Ventures.
\nStudents are introduced to areas like mobile and network security, Linux, cryptography and digital forensics, Lortz said. Teachers bring in guest speakers and students also participate in the National Cyber League competition.
\nIn advanced cybersecurity courses, students can work toward additional certifications and participate in job shadowing, Lortz said. She plans internships in the future.
\n\u201cAs they move through the courses, they go from learning the basics to applying those skills in more real-world situations,\u201d Lortz said.
\nAt South Allegheny, Bland said, students enter the cybersecurity class with varying levels of knowledge.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAll of the students are usually comfortable with a Windows or Android or Google environment, but my world is a Linux environment,\u201d he said, referring to the professional operating system for servers. \u201cIt\u2019s an eye-opener.\u201d
\nGateway\u2019s cybersecurity class is meant to be introductory, Perhac said. Students learn the basics of cybersecurity, the potential for careers and how to keep yourself safe online. They also look at vulnerabilities to hackers in computer systems.
\n\u201cWe want to try to build a pipeline where, after they graduate, they\u2019re ready to go and enter the workforce out of high school and are prepared,\u201d Perhac said.
\nJoshua Fry, a Gateway junior, could join that pipeline. He grew up around technology and his father works in the field. He said his experience in the cybersecurity class has been constructive.
\n\u201cI want to try to better systems, so that information doesn\u2019t get leaked to someone with worse intentions,\u201d said Fry, 17.
\n\u2018A punk-rock subject\u2019
\nBland emphasizes to his South Allegheny students the need to be ethical when working on cybersecurity.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s kind of a punk-rock subject,\u201d Bland said. \u201cYou have to learn the bad to do the good.\u201d
\nEthics can\u2019t be a single unit or lesson, he said. Instead, it needs to be incorporated with everything students learn.
\n\u201cWe explain the different hats you can wear in cybersecurity \u2014 there\u2019s good, bad and those in between to help companies point out vulnerabilities in their system,\u201d Perhac said.
\nEthics is built into every unit at South Fayette, Lortz said.
\n\u201cWe want students to understand that cybersecurity isn\u2019t always about defending systems but it\u2019s also about responsibly handling and protecting people\u2019s information,\u201d Lortz said. \u201cTrust is a really important piece of that.\u201d
\nBland believes more schools should add cybersecurity courses.
\n\u201cThe need will always be there and I do think it will continue to grow,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a good pathway for kids that, if high school or college isn\u2019t their thing, it\u2019s another outlet.\u201d
\nCybersecurity still has value even with the advancement of artificial intelligence, he said.
\n\u201cOf all the dominos that will fall in cybersecurity, AI has already hit programming jobs,\u201d Bland said. \u201cI think there will be a major surge for cybersecurity and I don\u2019t think AI can touch it yet in the grand scheme of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

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