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Owens hosting cybersecurity camp for middle school aged kids

Owens Community College will be holding a 2 and a half day camp for 7th through 9th graders later this week that will offer lots of hands-on activities.

PERRYSBURG, Ohio — As much as kids look forward to summer during the school year, by the end of June even the most motivated among them can fall victim to boredom.

Owens Community College has what they think is the perfect solution and one that will help keep kids’ minds active and thinking about the world around them.

The school is holding a cybersecurity camp from Wednesday June 22 through Friday June 24 for 7th through 9th graders.

Campers will discover how easy it is to uncover personal information they think is secret; how easy it is for hackers to hurt the people and things they care about; and most importantly, how to become a good cyber citizen.

Kids don’t need to have any experience with hacking, coding, or encryption to take part in the camp but will learn about these things through fun hands-on activities.

There will also be some friendly competition.

"We're going to have hacking demos, students are going to get hands-on. It's not going to be a death by PowerPoint - you're going to actually be doing things,” said instructor Eli Cochran. “We're going to be playing with cryptography, we've got a really cool little development board that we're going to be playing with. Then interacting with your peers and having a lot of fun.”

Cochran is excited to get the next generation excited about cybersecurity, something that they will certainly have to deal with in the future and may have already experienced.

 “A lot of people are working from home now so we’re a lot more connected, on our devices a lot more now and we constantly see a need for cybersecurity professionals to help people, so it’s definitely best to get them started younger,” said Cochran.

Classes will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday and from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Friday.

The cost of the camp is $25. You can register your child a here.

Call 567-661-7357 for more information.

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