Pinckney Community Schools Leads Michigan with the Opening of the Pinckney Cyber Training Institute
An incredibly exciting and timely project has come to fruition in Pinckney this year.
Pinckney Community Schools (PCS), long known for its forward-thinking curriculum development, opened its doors of its state of the art Cyber Training Institute (CTI). The project is funded in part by the Merit Network and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and is one of two such projects that was awarded grant funding this year.
Elected officials, members of the military, statewide leaders, and community leaders joined the PCS staff in a presentation on the Cyber Institute and live demonstrations by PCS students. PCS is a school of choice, meaning that courses in the Cyber Security program are available to all Livingston County students, and to students in the Whitmore Lake Public School system.
The Cyber Institute offers courses to PCS students, and to the public. Businesses are able to use the cyber security hub to test out their own cyber security systems in what is referred to as a “sandbox environment,” meaning that there will be no chance of the system being hacked as software engineers test it for weaknesses. PCS is actively recruiting businesses to use the Hub as test site, and for classes.
The SPARK team has worked with the PCS administration to navigate the grant application process with MEDC, and will continue to help PCS with outreach in the business community. We view this as an excellent opportunity for Livingston County students and local businesses, and to help create new talent pipelines for our region.
Ann Arbor SPARK’s senior vice president of business development, Phil Santer is thrilled with the initiative stating, “Programs like the Pinckney Cyber Training Institute are critical elements in developing a set of students that understand and can implement security solutions, and also provides a place for businesses to test and implement their own ideas. The PCTI is a great step for our community and for our state.”
Learn more about the Pinckney Cyber Training Institute here.
