Steel Root Inc. Announces College Scholarship Promoting Cybersecurity Education

PRESS RELEASE

SALEM, MA (September 9, 2021) – Steel Root Inc, a leading cybersecurity company that provides security and compliance services for the U.S. Defense Industrial Base, announces the formation of a college scholarship that will award a selected high school junior applicant with $10,000 toward an education in the field of cybersecurity.

The Steel Root Scholarship is intended to encourage skilled young applicants to enter the field of cybersecurity – a field where the demand for talent far exceeds the supply. Open to all Massachusetts students in their junior year of high school, the scholarship has an application deadline of October 31, 2021.

“We wanted to promote the opportunity for careers in cybersecurity in a way that is equitable and inclusive,” said Steel Root managing director, Scott Freedson. “This scholarship will not only increase awareness of the cybersecurity industry among a diverse pool of potential applicants throughout the state and increase the number of talented individuals interested in our field, but it will also help to close the opportunity gap for underprivileged youth.”

The Steel Root Scholarship provides the recipient with $10,000 over two years of college -- $5,000 at the start of freshman year and $5,000 at the start of sophomore year. The recipient will also be enrolled in Leap for Education’s College Success Program, and will receive free assistance with the college and scholarship application process, completion of the FAFSA financial aid forms, SAT prep classes, and more. Finally, the winner of the scholarship will also be paired with a Steel Root cybersecurity professional who will serve as a mentor and meet with the student quarterly through the final year of high school and into freshman year of college.

Applicants for the Steel Root scholarship should be planning to pursue one or more majors in qualified IT fields of study, including information technology, computer science, software engineering, computational data analysis hardware, software, or networking certification programs. Scholars with a GPA of 2.5 or higher will be considered, although lower GPA’s may be considered if the student demonstrates outstanding interest and potential in an IT field through extracurricular activities, jobs, internships, volunteer activities, etc.

Applicants will be asked to demonstrate financial need and must plan to enroll in a full-time undergraduate study at an accredited two- or four-year college, university, or vocational-technical trade school after graduating high school.

ABOUT STEEL ROOT

Steel Root is a national leader in helping U.S. government and defense contractors meet cybersecurity and compliance requirements under CMMC, DFARS, and other federal standards. Specializing in the design and implementation of cloud-native systems purpose-built for meeting DoD compliance requirements, Steel Root provides expert guidance and managed IT services to help companies in the U.S. Defense Industrial Base build cybersecurity maturity.