Earlier this summer, Meagan Murphy ‘18 traveled to Dakota State University to attend GenCyber, a 5 day informative camp in which curious students “learn, hack, fix, and explore cyber security.” 

Meagan heard about the camp from her father, who works as a project manager for U.S. Cellular. She also is also extremely interested in technology and how it affects individuals’ daily lives. It seemed as though the camp was a good fit for her.

At it turns out, she was right. Each day of the camp was comprised of three core classes in the morning about networking, coding, and cyber security. After lunch in the afternoon, there were several electives in which Meagan learned everything from how to code spheros to learning coding through such software such as Python and C++, to create math programs.

Murphy was accepted into the program, despite the programs selective status. Over 300 students were wait-listed. Ultimately, Murphy was one of the 40 girls and 160 boys at the camp who participated at the camp.

Students came from all around the world to attend this camp. For example, Murphy’s roommate was from Germany, and one of her best friends was from Ohio. She was able to meet people from all over the world, all from different backgrounds. After classes at night, students participated in technologically-related activities, such as laser tag.

Murphy had a wonderful time at the camp this past summer, and would recommend the camp to anyone interested in cyber security, as well as those who may not know a lot about it.