Cyber Warrior Academy 2026
Ready to defend the digital frontier? The University of North Georgia’s (ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½) Cyber Warrior Academy (CWA) is a six-day, residential camp designed to prepare motivated high school students for demanding cybersecurity and cyber operations careers—in the military, federal or civilian sector. CWA is a fun, active learning environment with team building, daily physical activities, and is completely free and supported by a grant from the Department of Defense!
- 30+ hours of hands-on instruction focusing on national cybersecurity and ethical
cyber operations. - Learn the foundational cybersecurity concepts through engaging labs and activities.
- Explore Python coding, cryptography, robotics, and car hacking
- The camp culminates in a thrilling Capture the Flag (CTF) competition.
Note: A teacher cyber camp will occur at the same time as CWA. Some activities between the two camps will be combined but teachers will not be housed on campus.
When: June 7 - 12, 2026
Where: Dahlonega Campus
Priority Deadline: February 13, 2026
Questions: Contact Kimberly Bruner
Housing
Participants will stay in comfortable campus housing at ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Dahlonega, with 2–4 same-gender individuals sharing a suite and private bathroom. Floors are shared with specialized cadet mentor counselors (current ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ students) who are trained to live alongside and support participants throughout the week.
Requirements
- U.S. high school student entering grade 10-12 for Fall 2026.
- Priority consideration will be given to students who:
- Studied a strategic language (such as Arabic, Farsi, Russian, Mandarin
Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) in school or elsewhere. - Demonstrated high aptitude and achievement in high school math and/or
computer science courses (>3.5 GPA in Math/CS courses) - Have participated in computer-related extracurricular activities (e.g.
computer programming, robotics or cyber competition team membership,
etc.).
- Studied a strategic language (such as Arabic, Farsi, Russian, Mandarin
Note: We are looking for 30 students entering grades 10-12, specifically aiming for a variety of backgrounds. Due to ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½’s status as the Military College of Georgia, we hope to recruit 50% of the participants from state JROTC programs. Priority will be given to students with at least some computer/cyber experience.
Course Inctructors
Bryson Payne, Ph.D.Profile page
Director, Institute for Cyber Operations
Office locationCottrell Center, 228,
Why at ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½?
ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ is a consistent leader in cyber skill development, as demonstrated by consistently strong performance in high stakes competitions such as the annual NSA Codebreaker Challenge. The CWA is a collaboration of the Institute for Cyber Operations, the College of Education, the Institute for Leadership and Strategic Studies, and the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems at ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½.
Participant Testimonial
"Thank you for guiding the 2019 Cyber Warriors during the summer and capturing our interest in the cyber security. Before the camp, I was uncertain about entering cyber security, but after meeting professionals, learning to use Kali Linux and interacting as a team, I am definitely considering cyber security as a field to join. Thank you for making the camp an amazing experience for all of us.”
