Unlocking Cyber Futures: UH Launches 2025 GenCyber Camps Registration

Summary

• University of Hawaiʻi (UH) opens 2025 GenCyber camps: The free camps teach cybersecurity skills to middle and high school students and to teachers.
• Programs for different groups: There are virtual pre-camps, week-long in-person student camps on several islands and an online camp for high school teachers.
• Federal funding: GenCyber is funded by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), and UH Maui College leads the statewide effort with a $412,794 NSA grant.
• Hands-on learning: Campers solve ciphers, program micro:bit boards and work through security challenges.

Bringing Cybersecurity Into Hawaiʻi Classrooms

The University of Hawaiʻi opened registration in April 2025 for its 2025 GenCyber camps. GenCyber is a national program funded by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) that offers free cybersecurity camps for students and teachers. UH has taken part since 2015.

The scale is real. Since 2015, UH has hosted 44 student camps for more than 1,000 middle and high school students, plus more than 25 teacher camps that trained over 750 educators across the state. The idea is to spark interest early, when students are still choosing what to study, and to give teachers material they can bring back to class.

What the Camps Offer

Students in grades 6 through 12 could start with free virtual pre-camps on May 3 and May 10, with no experience needed. In-person summer camps ran in June on Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Maui, Molokaʻi and Hawaiʻi Island, hosted at high schools, UH Maui College and other sites. Registration for the in-person camps closed May 16, 2025.

Students learn by doing: decoding ciphers, building electronics kits and using block coding to program micro:bit boards. Teachers have their own track. UH Maui College runs a fully online camp for Hawaiʻi Department of Education high school teachers covering ethical hacking, AI and cybersecurity, and packet tracing.

Funding and Partners

With a $412,794 grant from the NSA GenCyber program, UH Maui College leads the statewide effort. Partners include UH Mānoa, UH Information Technology Services, Kapiʻolani Community College and Leeward Community College. Faculty from those campuses direct the student camps, and a Department of Education teacher leads the teacher camp instruction.

The Hands-on Learning Advantage

The camps focus on practice over lectures. Participants work through challenges that mirror real security problems, then apply what they learned by the end of the week.

Jodi Ito, UH’s chief information security officer, described the value for both groups: “GenCyber camps are an excellent way for students to learn about exciting skills and careers they can pursue in college, and teachers learn techniques and content they can teach students in the classroom or in after-school programs.”

Building Hawaiʻi’s Talent Pipeline

Hawaiʻi, like the rest of the country, needs more people with security skills. Programs like GenCyber reach students long before college and give teachers tools to keep that interest going.

Space in the camps is limited each year. For students and teachers in Hawaiʻi, they are a free and practical first step into the field.

John King, CISSP, PMP, CISM

John King currently works in the greater Los Angeles area as a ISSO (Information Systems Security Officer). John has a passion for learning and developing his cyber security skills through education, hands on work, and studying for IT certifications.