West Cyber Academy Students Make National History

Lakota West High School seniors Samantha Boothe and Caleb Kingan joined a long line of Lakota Cyber Academy students to earn a spot at the prestigious National Cyber Signing Day table during this year’s NICE K12 Cybersecurity Conference in Nashville, Tenn. Spotlighting just a few high school students each year for their achievements in cybersecurity, the 2025 ceremony marked the first time that one school district had two students selected for the honor in the same year. 

“This truly is a recognition of the best high school cybersecurity scholars across the country and the Lakota Cyber Academy has produced five total honorees since the inaugural recognition in 2020,” said Andrew Wheatley, Lakota’s director of 7-12 curriculum and instruction. “Every year, as more and more schools add cybersecurity courses, this prestigious recognition gets harder and harder to accomplish.” 

The summer after her sophomore year, Samantha landed a cybersecurity and defense internship offered through Georgetown University where she worked with a team to assess the cybersecurity needs of their client and develop an actionable plan. This experience was followed up with a week-long international business internship through the Leadership Initiatives program where she developed a cybersecurity plan for a non-profit organization. 

She also graduated from the Girl Security National Fellowship program, which connected her on a weekly basis with other female high school students and cyber professionals across the country. Through discussions and workshops, she worked alongside other members of the group to solve real-world and national security challenges. For the past three years, she also attended the Cincinnati Women in IT Conference.

“Sammy’s experiences have instilled in her a passion for inclusivity and representation of women in the field of cybersecurity and other STEM fields.,” said Lakota Cyber Academy teacher Jennifer Circello, noting that her post-graduation plans include the pursuit of a degree in computer engineering. 

“Being recognized at National Cyber Signing Day was an incredible honor,” Samantha said. “All of the support reinforced my passion for cybersecurity even more and I am excited to continue my journey in this field.”

Like Samantha, Caleb also participated in a Leadership Initiatives internship in Washington D.C. where he identified cybersecurity vulnerabilities and implemented solutions for a non-profit client. Last spring, Caleb’s performance in the National Cyber League competition ranked him 15th among all 1,727 high school competitors. In the fall competition, his team ranked second out of 571 high school teams and 29th when up against nearly 4,900 teams that included college students and young professionals. 

“I was honored to be recognized at National Cyber Signing Day. This award reflects the hard work I’ve put into learning cybersecurity over the past three years,” said Caleb, who has earned several industry certifications and serves as co-chair of Lakota West’s Cyber Security Club. “I could not have received this award without the support of the Lakota Cyber Academy and my teacher, Mrs. Circello. I hope to turn these skills into a successful career in cybersecurity.”

“Somehow he still finds time to complete bug bounties in his free time, meaning companies pay him to find vulnerabilities in their system,” added Circello. “He has been able to find two bugs for SpaceX.” 

The Lakota Cyber Academy is a progressive three-year program, with the second year qualifying for College Credit Plus course credit and the third a capstone through which students have earned professional certifications, developed cyber curriculum, created a model for Artificial Intelligence and even created activities to recruit underclassmen into the program. Recent accomplishments include: 

• In the National Cyber League competition, seven Lakota students individually placed in the top five percent of all high schoolers (top 100 of all collegiate and professional competitors). Lakota had five teams finish in the top 70 among all high school teams.
   
• Last spring, the National Cyber League’s power rankings placed Lakota East and Lakota West in spots No. 6 and No. 7, respectively, among all high school cyber programs. 
   
• 85 percent of the Cyber Academy’s 2025 graduates had plans to pursue a career in cybersecurity through higher education or the military. 
   
• Last year, 11 students earned 15 professional certifications, including Network+, Security+ and CySA+, setting them up for a host of post-graduate options.
   
• In 2025, 34 seniors graduated with a total of 354 college credit hours from classes completed in the program. 

“Cybersecurity is an incredibly lucrative field,” said Circello, whose students learned from a recent visit from US Bank professionals that more than 514,000 cybersecurity jobs in the U.S. are currently unfilled. Over the last three years, she has enjoyed seeing several of her students go right into the workforce with an opportunity to continue their education simultaneously and at the expense of their new employers. “We are fortunate to have such a gem right here in our schools and so many valuable partnerships with local professionals too.” 

With over 200 students enrolled this school year, Lakota’s Cyber Academy is the largest high school cybersecurity program in the midwest. The program consistently produces students who top the leader board in both individual and team competitions that include not only high school students, but also college students and industry professionals. Since its inception in 2019, graduates of the program have continued on to immediate employment, the U.S. military or a college or university, including MIT, Sinclair Community College, Purdue, DePaul, University of Cincinnati and others, to major in cybersecurity. 

The curriculum is guided by a Cyber Advisory Board, which helps secure mentors and paid internships for students at companies such as Procter & Gamble, US Bank, Kroger, the University of Cincinnati, Great American Insurance and Fifth Third Bank. The program also boasts two of only 14 high school chapters nationally of Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS).