SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, COLLABORATIVE LAUNCHES CALL FOR NEXT GENERATION CYBERSECURITY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AND ESTABLISHES A UNIQUE NATIONAL MODEL

San Antonio, TX, February 7, 2002 - San Antonios Information Technology and Security Academy (ITSA) is seeking High School sophomores (Juniors during the 2003-2004 academic year) to apply for free admission to the Academy. ITSA is a Community Partnership hosted by the Alamo Community College District that provides high school juniors and seniors with advanced education, work experience, and job opportunities in the high-growth information technology and network security industries. Upon high school graduation, ITSA students receive 30 hours of college credit when they graduate high school.

"San Antonio's ITSA program represents a national model of success for how a city meets the education and employment needs of students, families, industry, government and academia in a rapidly changing world," says Joe Sanchez, Industry co-chair and senior advisor at the Air Intelligence Agency. He adds, "ITSA is part of San Antonio's nationally recognized cybersecurity capabilities that involves a larger network of university programs, technology commercialization efforts, government operations and industry development."

ITSA is a unique and innovative partnership of 18 local school districts, a number of technology employers, the Alamo Community College District (ACCD), the City of San Antonio, the Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security at UTSA, Alamo Workforce Development, the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, Greater Kelly Development Authority, and the San Antonio Technology Accelerator Initiative (SATAI). . ITSA is modeled after the successful Alamo Area Aerospace Academy. During the 2002-2003 academic year, there are 78 juniors in the ITSA inaugural class.

Nationally, the need for skilled Information Technology Professionals, especially those with IT security skills, is outpacing the workforce. IT security is one of the fastest growing information technology fields and it is one of the highest paying", says Douglas Monroe, ITSA Director. He continues, San Antonio hosts 40 employers who are world leaders in this field. Our mission is to create a flow of students to area employers while encouraging and supporting the pursuit of advanced degrees in the emerging field of Infrastructure Assurance and Security. This will help sustain our national lead and historical strengths in cybersecurity."

ITSA includes a paid summer internship between the junior and senior year, transportation to and from the Academy and all course textbooks. Academy students spend a ½ day at their home campus and a ½ day at one of two Academy locations. The ITSA program is available to students from any of the Bexar County area school districts ITSA applicants must be rising high school sophomores (Juniors 2003-2004) with a B average. Applicants must have previously completed the academic requirements for junior class standing including Geometry and Algebra 1.

Industry co-chair Roger Williams of Diligent Consulting adds, Many of San Antonios young people are interested in and are already playing with Linux, networking, java, open source software, wireless networking, and computer gaming in their free time." He adds, ITSA provides a constructive and mentor lead environment where young men and women can play, learn and work with advanced IT security technologies."

Students who graduate from ITSA have an open pathway to UTSAs Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security (CIAS). In the Fall of 2003, UTSA will offer an undergraduate degree in Infrastructure Assurance and Security. UTSA also has Masters and PhD. Degrees in development for Infrastructure Assurance and Security.

In December of 2002, a team of ITSA students, all high school juniors, won first place in a computer defense competition sponsored by the North San Antonio Chamber of Commerce during its Business Technology Summit. The ITSA team competed in the college-level division against students from area universities and colleges in a test of their skills in preventing and controlling security breaches of computer systems and networks.

The deadline for applications is February 28, 2003. Applications are available on the web at http://www.accd.edu/itsa or by contacting Mrs. Barerra at, 210-932-5756 or barerra@accd.edu.

ITSA Industry Partners include: the Air Intelligence Agency, Rackspace Managed Hosting, Karta Technologies, Tesoro Petroleum Company, SecureInfo Corporation, Symantec Corporation, SecureLogix Corporation, Digital Defense, Inc., Onboard Software, Inc., ISSA -- Alamo Chapter, Paladin IT Services, The Web Head Group, CACI, Inc., Denim Group, Ltd., Mitre, ARC Information Assurance Institute, Sytex, Inc., Amerilink San Antonio, IS_Systems, and Diligent Consulting, Inc.