AHS Seniors Passed Cybersecurity Industry Certification Exam 

Congratulations to Alizain Shakeel Fatehali, Sarah Angelina Dufays, and Hugo Liu, American Heritage Schools, Broward Campus, seniors in their last year of the Computer Science Pre-Professional Program, for passing the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) Exam, one of the most sought-after certification courses in the IT Security/Cybersecurity domain.

This group of students is among the youngest in the nation to pass a test that has a 70% passing rate for 5-year professionals in the cybersecurity world. The CEH also provides academic college credit within Computer Information System programs.

“The cybersecurity class is an excellent opportunity, that most high schoolers don’t get, to jump into an industry-recognized certification. The exam involved weeks of studying networking, encryption, and cloud computing, among several other concepts. The class was incredibly challenging but worth it. I am going to continue with computer science as a major in college, with a focus on cybersecurity, if it is an option. I still have a ton to learn in regard to computer science and cybersecurity, but this class was a step in the right direction.” commented Hugo Liu, one of the students who passed the CEH exam.

The Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) exam is bound by the EC-Council, the leading global cybersecurity certification body. The CEH program is led by Jeffrey Rivero, Director of the Computer Science Program, a proven security professional with extensive experience performing vulnerability and penetration assessments, managing large scale network controls, and automating security controls.

“We couldn’t have done it without the Computer Science Program and the school’s support!” said Sarah Dufays, one of the students who started as a freshman in the Computer Science Program. “I personally did not know a thing about Computer Science coming into the program as a freshman, and to this day, it amazes me how much we’ve been exposed to and how much we’ve learned in as little as three years. Every single class in the program helped us pass this exam. The specifics it covered required an in-depth understanding of software, hardware, operating systems, programming logic, and computer networking—which we never would have had if it weren’t for all the hands-on projects we’ve worked on across all classes. 

“Overall, passing this exam was incredibly rewarding and the journey there not only exposed me to but also immersed me in a field that I now want to go into. In the future, I want to major in Computer Science and am looking to study the intersections of Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence. I am currently applying to Georgia Tech, UIUC, the University of Washington, MIT, UF, Northeastern, and Brown University in the United States; the University of Toronto and McGill University in Canada; and Ecole Polytechnique and Insa Lyon in France.” said Sarah.

Alizain Fatehali mentioned that “The Computer Science Program at Heritage is a truly rewarding experience. Being able to see your knowledge and hard work materialize into tangible products is a learning opportunity in and of itself, as it provides crucial feedback for future projects. The line between physical and digital creations is blurred, which creates a cohesive way to learn skills for the real world.” 

Regarding the CEH course, Alizain said “This course was extremely in-depth, with thousands of pages of technical material, complex terminology, and detailed techniques about hacking and security. Throughout the semester, we had heard that this exam is notoriously difficult--125 questions in 4 hours--and is typically only passed by industry professionals. From the start, I knew that I wanted to major in computer science, and applied to mostly high-end tech schools. However, after almost four years in the Computer Science Program, I realize that my passion lies in cybersecurity, and I intend to explore that in the future. After college, I hope to start a career in cyber analytics and defense, and I intend to continue learning and exploring along the way. I would wholeheartedly recommend this class/program to anyone with an interest in computer science and a will to work hard and continue learning. It has been an invaluable learning experience and covers a depth and breadth of knowledge unparalleled at the high school level.”

The Computer Science Pre-Professional Program offers societies, community service, and competition opportunities to the students with a unique college-level curriculum that includes:

• Honors Computer Science Essentials
• Honors Programming with a Purpose 
• AP Computer Science A 
• AP Computer Science Principles
• Honors Cyber Security & Defense
• Honors Data Architecture 
• Honors Web/App Development
• Honors Machine Learning & AI 
• Honors Senior Internship

About EC-Council Academia

The EC-Council Academia partner program, led by EC-Council’s academic division, offers free partnership opportunities to academic institutions globally. These partnerships establish cybersecurity education ecosystems that support students, alumni, faculty, employees, and communities. Through established partnerships, academic institutions can access extensive discounts on content, evaluate learning resources, offer student-stackable credentials, initiate faculty development, provide scholarships, and facilitate cyber competitions. To date, EC-Council supports upwards of 2,500 education networks and institutions globally, with over 1,000 recently participating since the relaunch of the academia program in 2018. EC-Council works with many top cybersecurity programs worldwide, including Western Governors University, the University of Maryland Global Campus, the NATO School, many National Centers of Academic Excellence, statewide education systems, and many ministry initiatives. EC-Council’s Academia partner program helps certify tens of thousands of students annually with industry-leading credentials. For more information on EC-Council Academia, please visit www.eccouncil.org/academia.