e - elective credit
I earned my elective credit through my participation in a Living Learning Community, or LLC, my first year at Old Dominion University
Importance
While I understand that an opportunity like this is hard to come by given the limited number of students that can participate in an LLC, I found the experience invaluable and would recommend it to any student whose school offers an LLC in their major. Coming into college, I was still very fresh in the field of cybersecurity, and while I may have known a lot more about it than most people in high school, the LLC showed me that I still had a long way to go and immediately helped me start closing that gap. It covered everything an experience in the LeADERS program should have. It drove my professional development through both learning and establishment of items such as a LinkedIn and an ePortfolio, it allowed me to meet and connect with all different kinds of people in the field, and through group work I gained a better sense not only of how different roles interact within cybersecurity but also how to work with and manage different types of personalities in cyber. Not only did it set me up for an easier transition into my career after college, but it also met another core principle of the LeADERS program more so than I think any other LeADERS experience I had; helping me get the most out of college. My LLC helped me make lifelong friends and mentors who inspired me, allowed me to discover who I was and grow as a person, and so much more. It really defined my college experience. I look back on it fondly and am grateful for everything it provided me.
Context
Old Dominion University offers Living Learning Communities to residential students as a means of connecting these students with others with similar personal and professional interests. When I lived on campus at ODU, I participated in the Cybersecurity LLC, in which I shared a hall with numerous other cybersecurity majors. We all had three classes together during our first semester, which took place on the first floor of our dorm building. Not only did the LLC allow us to better connect with peers of similar interests, but it also offered a lot of activities and opportunities specifically tailored to us as cybersecurity students as a means of enriching our professional careers. It made for a terrific introduction to college and really helped me to begin considering how I could apply my classroom experiences out in the real world. ODU LLCs
Development
Being a part of the cybersecurity LLC kickstarted my professional development in the cyber field. I felt that it gave us all a headstart as we were all in the same major starting off on the same journey, so the courses could be specifically tailored to that experience. We had classes where we were taught tips and tricks to resume building, asked to setup a LinkedIn page if we didn't already have one, heard from some terrific guest speakers and developed strong early connections for the industry, and were frequently informed about exciting opportunities that we could use to further our career that we may have missed otherwise. I want to give a special acknowledgement to Professor Kirkpatrick, who set me up for success with his CYSE 200T course and who later became my mentor for the VICEROY research program. I am where I am today thanks to him.