Essex Junction Student Earns Cybersecurity Credits Before Starting College

Lucille Paxton of Essex Junction spent her junior year of high school taking college-level cybersecurity courses through Champlain College. By the time she started at Champlain, she had already earned nine transferable credits and an undergraduate certificate in Cybersecurity. Paxton followed the vocational curriculum at her school while enrolled in Cyber Start, an online dual-enrollment program run by Champlain with nuHarbor, a Vermont cybersecurity firm that keeps office space at the college's Lakeside campus.

The program is open to high school juniors and seniors. Students can take up to three undergraduate courses taught by Champlain faculty. nuHarbor supplies real-world scenarios for the students to work through. Completing all the courses earns a certificate; finishing any of them can also lead to conditional acceptance to Champlain.

Paxton said the coursework showed her where she wanted to study. She visited the Leahy Center on campus and decided Champlain was investing in the field she planned to work in. "It's been quite helpful to have a better understanding of how college course material is going to work," she said.

Logan Wendell, a Digital Forensics major in the class of 2028, took the courses during his senior year after a criminal justice teacher pointed him toward the program. "It immediately piqued my interest, because it sounded like the perfect opportunity," Wendell said. He now combines what he learned about cybersecurity with his criminal justice coursework. "I knew what to expect, and I was able to get into the material a lot quicker," he said.

Assistant Professor LaKysha Patnode teaches the college-level material. She said students who arrive through Cyber Start already know the tools and the vocabulary. "By the time these students sit in a college classroom, they're not starting from zero," Patnode said. "They've already touched the tools, already wrestled with the vocabulary, already thought through adversarial scenarios. That means we can go deeper, faster, instead of spending weeks on the basics." Patnode also said students who stay with the program can move into an internship.

The program sits inside a field with a growing shortage of workers. Microsoft's 2024 Digital Defense Report counted 600 million cyberattacks a day worldwide, and reported an 89% rise in attacks by AI-enabled adversaries. The U.S. Bureau of Labor projects 29% growth in information security analyst positions from 2024 to 2034, seven times the rate across the economy.

Patnode cited ISC2's 2024 Cybersecurity Workforce Study, which put the global gap at around four million unfilled positions. A 2026 survey by the Information Systems Security Association and research firm Omdia found 75% of security professionals said a skills shortage had affected their organization.

Wendell joined the Champlayer's theater club and the improv troupe Los Dormant Volcanoes after arriving on campus. "I have made such good connections here that will, I guarantee, last years beyond my graduation," he said. He added, "If you're interested in cybersecurity or Champlain at all, it's a great program."

Cybersecurity Awareness Month runs through October 2026. Champlain College is accepting inquiries about Cyber Start through a form on its website.