Perth Andover Middle School will be hosting Cyber Day​ 4 Girls on Oct. 11 in partnership with IBM, the largest computer technology company in the world. 

Brian Facey, subject coordinator for Anglophone West School District, said 10 upriver schools (Woodstock north) will each send a team of five to eight students to participate. The knowledge-building event is also receiving support from local private sector partners and will also include food, games and giveaways.

Since 2016, IBM has been involved in Cyber Day 4 Girls events in the United States, Canada, Ireland, Australia, South Africa and most recently, Nigeria, to promote cybersecurity education. Throughout the full-day experience, middle school aged girls will learn about the Internet of Things, protecting your online identity, and they will participate in group activities such as basic threat modelling. They also get to know some of the women of IBM who can tell them what it's like to work in the tech industry. The company is dedicated to reaching 1,000 girls through events in 2018. The goal is to attract girls to security careers as they also learn about cybersecurity awareness, skills and opportunities.

On Oct. 10, Carleton North High School will also host a different cyber security education day in partnership with CyberNB, Opportunities New Brunswick and private sector partners. During this event, 40 middle school and high school students and their teachers will have the chance for hands-on exploration into cybersecurity and find out how to get the Cyber-Titan initiative into their schools.  

Cyber-Titan is a national youth education program which promotes education and awareness in technology education and fosters excellence in students pursuing careers in cyber security and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) areas. Cyber-Titan was introduced in Canadian schools in 2016 by the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC), a national, non-profit organization with a focus and expertise in the digital economy.