North East ISD Superintendent Sean Maika said students who leave the district’s Institute of Cybersecurity and Innovation Magnet School Program, or ICSI, are more prepared for a career in cybersecurity than 40% of San Antonio’s current workforce.

“I've been a part of different groups, talking about ICSI and talking with industry [professionals] about what their needs are, what their demands are, and then how ICSI can help them meet the workforce need,” Maika said.

The big picture

ICSI serves all seven NEISD high schools during three school periods. The program has courses for all four grade levels and focuses on different skill sets and certifications each year. Students remain enrolled at their main campuses but take buses to the ICSI campus for one of three 80-90 minute class blocks each day.

At ICSI, students can:

• Earn two credit hours of instruction while receiving daily transportation to ICSI for two class periods
• Experience working with industry-standard hardware, software and platforms
• Learn from both cybersecurity workforce professionals and highly-qualified NEISD instructors
• Gain hands-on experience through on-site visits with cybersecurity companies in San Antonio
• Compete in various competitions
• Build relationships with stakeholders associated with cybersecurity institutions
• Participate in community service within the cybersecurity industry through mentorship, instruction and club opportunities

Eric Asel, ICSI instructor, said that roughly 150 students attend each period, with around 450 students across all four grade levels attending in total. He noted that students typically earn one certification per year, with three to five certificates as the average, while some students have earned up to eight certifications.

Facilities at ICSI include two security operations center rooms, which contain wall displays, threat maps and "capture the flag" competition setups; two networking labs with racks, routers and switches; and multiple standard classrooms. The facility also hosts Cyber Patriot events, hosted by the CyberTexas Foundation, a national youth cyber defense competition.

Asel said the 2024-25 school year saw the first full graduating class of 66 students.

“I want to say like 62 of them went either to college or military, and then only like four or five went straight for a job,” Asel said.

Zooming in

Each year at ICSI has a particular focus, with seniors moving onto highly-individualized pathways that include internships with local companies.Asel said freshman year focuses on the basics and teaches students to work with Windows and Linux machines.

“[Freshman are] doing a little bit of programming,” Asel said. “They do a little bit of networking. They'll take apart computers and put them back together.”

In their sophomore year, students will earn CompTIA Net+ certification and learn to create their own network by wiring routers and switches together.

“Second year is probably their hardest year, where there's a lot to learn with networking,” Asel said.

During their junior year, students will focus on security and work toward their Security+ certification.

“[Juniors are] really getting into how to harden computers and networks so that people can't hack into them,” Asel said.

By senior year, students in the program choose a personalized pathway and will pursue one of roughly a dozen certifications, ranging from Certified Ethical Hacker to Cybersecurity Analyst. Seniors split their time between advanced coursework and internships with around 15 local employers. By graduation, most have several industry certifications and a clear direction in either defensive “blue team” work or offensive “red team” ethical hacking.

“Senior year is really a cool year, because by their fourth year they kind of know where they want to go with the future, whether it’s college or getting a job,” Asel said.

The outlook

Seniors Harris Goolsby and Josiah Ortega said ICSI has given them each a pathway toward a high paying career that they are passionate about. Both have internships with local law firms, which have allowed them to learn how information technology and back-end development works.Goolsby said he was attracted to ICSI because of its hands-on nature. He said he enjoys the offensive "red team," but he expects to build his career hardening and protecting systems. He plans to attend the University of Texas at San Antonio's cybersecurity program.

“I’ve been interested in the cybersecurity tech world for a while, but really, in middle school ... I was told about this program ... first thing I find about this place is that incredible software ... they go on and on about how cool cybersecurity is,” Goolsby said.

Ortega was inspired by his older brother—one of the first graduates from ICSI—to attend the magnet school program. He said he is attracted to the “red team” and offensive security. He is currently working on attaining his Certified Ethical Hacker certification and competes in monthly Cyber Threat Hunter events.

"Being able to see what we’re doing now and getting certifications each year to carry us further in our lives has really been impactful,” Ortega said. “Along with all the amazing capture the flag [events] and internship opportunities ICSI has brought for us, [it] has really helped me and shown me perspectives of not just ‘this is impactful,’ but there’s this whole new world of IT, and it’s really eye-opening for everyone.”

Stay tuned

ICSI currently has an additional classroom under construction as well as a cybersecurity arena to host events.