The word “hacking” isn’t one often used to describe something positive, but for students in Dartmouth High School’s intro to cybersecurity class, that’s exactly what it is.

Seventeen students put their hacking skills to the test, tasked with solving simulated cyber attacks during a field trip to Bridgewater State University on Friday, Jan. 31.

“We had to figure out how to react to [the attack] and how to solve it [and] get around it,” said junior Ava Dusov. “In the end we did get it done.”

After starting its cybersecurity program this year, Bridgewater State invited Dartmouth students to its cybersecurity room where an escape room-like activity was set up, said cybersecurity teacher Bridget Weinart.

At the university for around five hours, the students faced several problems they had to solve, including one they had already tackled in class.

“It was neat to see how confident the students were, frankly, and executing it and getting it done,” Weinart said. “And so that was fun because they were able to knock it out pretty quickly.”

The trip, which was “optional and encouraged,” gave students an opportunity to get “a taste” for cybersecurity outside of the classroom, Weinart said. “There are just so many great positions out there for cyber security now.”

“Applying it to a fun, real world experience was awesome,” she added.

During the trip, students learned to code in Python and learned some keylogging, which can be used to detect unauthorized access or malicious activity, worked in groups to solve cybersecurity issues, had a working lunch and ended the trip by working on the problems together.

“All the people in class were really good at working together,” Dusov said. “It was overall just a really good experience.”

At the university, three Bridgewater State students and two professors ran the program, who Dusov said were “really nice, really helpful, really supportive.”

Weinart said she plans to apply what the students learned in her future lessons this school year, including coding in Python, adding that this is something she’s excited about because using what the students learned on the trip “should make it more fun.”

Dusov said she’d “definitely” want to continue to use the languages she learned, adding “all the coding languages would be really cool to learn.”

As someone who worked in the cybersecurity industry for over 20 years, Weinart said, “It would be super to see more women in the space and in the field, and so I'm excited to be able to offer opportunities like this one to our students and work on making a dent in that space.”