AP Career Kickstart™ (AP® CK) is a new set of career-oriented high school courses. Career Kickstart courses are organized as pathways made up of two full-year courses that will help students:

• Prepare for college, technical school, an apprenticeship, or a job.
• Earn an industry-recognized credential and college credit at select institutions.
• Build professional skills like communication, problem-solving, and teamwork.
• Learn real-world technical skills through hands-on projects.

In the 2025-2026 academic year, Monarch will offer AP CK Cyber: Security. In this course, students learn how hackers exploit weaknesses and how to protect against them, take part in realistic cybersecurity activities and competitions, and apply technical controls to protect computers. Students also begin preparing for the CompTIA Security+ industry-recognized credential.

Monarch Computer Science teacher, Jon Cihlar, will lead the course. He has been involved with the Career Kickstart team since the Lab year in 2023-2024. He was a facilitator for the 2024 Summer Institute, training teachers on how to engage all students through interesting and challenging activities. He has also been part of the assessment item writing team.

If you or your student is interested, please reach out for more details and be sure to select AP CYBER: SECURITY / PRINCIPLES OF INFO ASSUR WT on the course selection guide.