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SAISD Plans to launch high school cybersecurity program

As the technology industry continues to grow, SAISD wants to make sure their students are prepared for the workforce.

Technology has become part of everyday life at home, work and in school. As the industry continues to grow SAISD wants to make sure their students are prepared for the workforce.

In 2019, SAISD will launch the P-TECH program, which stands for Pathways in Technology Early College High School.

The four-year program will prepare students with the skills needed for careers in cybersecurity while earning college credits.

"Students are getting certifications along the way while they are still in high school,” Sam Houston High School Principal Mateen Diop said. “The end goal, of course, they have a high school diploma, they have their associates degree, but they have the opportunity to earn these industry certifications before they even graduate high school."

The school plans to recruit 150 new freshmen from throughout Bexar County but students from SAISD will be given priority.

Diop says the program will come with no additional cost.

"A lot of folks think, ‘I will never get accepted,’ Diop said. “There are no barriers you just have to apply and it's a lottery system we call your name and you’re in, it's just that simple."

Each year a new grade will be phased in until the program becomes a 9th-through-12th-grade high school within Sam Houston High School.

The first year students accepted into the program will attend W.W. White Elementary School down the street from Sam Houston High School until renovations at the main building are finished.

Diop says the program aims to revitalize an area where a college degree seems farfetched and too expensive.

In a power point school staff presented, they backed up the program with data that students will graduate into a growing industry that pays well.

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Students who will be freshman next year can apply for the program on November, 26 and an informational meeting about P-TECH will be held for parents on November, 27 at 5 p.m. at Sam Houston High School.

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