The cutting-edge Alabama School for Cyber Technology and Engineering (ASCTE) is growing its campus. The soccer field next door to the new tennis courts lacks only a gravel path to be ready for the start of preseason practice. The Sentinel Center, which will house a gym and serve as home to many of the school’s extra-curricular activities, is moving along.

In the meantime, ASCTE and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) gathered at the school’s Monday Morning Meeting in the auditorium to present a partnership that will give students another exciting option – a cyber range.

The range will be part of the co-op, which is designed to advance cybersecurity education and workforce development across Alabama. Representatives from both the school and TVA joined students in celebrating the enterprise.

“What they’re doing here at the school we think is just amazing,’’ Jared Mitchem, TVA regional vice president, told the Huntsville Business Journal prior to the presentation. “It aligns really well with things that are important to TVA. So TVA, of course, delivers electricity that’s reliable, affordable, and resilient. We do that as part of improving the quality of life for people in this part of the country.”

“The skills these students learn here are – they might come to work for TVA someday,” Mitchem continued. “They might be our next cybersecurity professional or engineer and help us keep the grid safe and secure. But whether they do that or not, what they achieve and attain here is gonna help them enrich the communities where they live.’’

The partnership allows cybersecurity professionals at TVA to join with the ASCTE staff to develop a cybersecurity curriculum.

“It’s about grid security,’’ Mitchem added. “(The cyber range presents) scenarios, real world scenarios that these students can practice on and learn how important and critical it is to protect infrastructure like the grid — or water systems or other infrastructure. So hopefully they become interested in that kind of work. Again, they’re the cybersecurity professionals of the future that are protecting and managing these resources for us.’’

Currently, ASCTE has students serving as interns with TVA, even spending one day a week in Chattanooga at the cyber center. The new partnership builds on that existing relationship with TVA, a utility company that has taken a proactive approach to enhancing cybersecurity across its facilities while supporting educational initiatives in the region.

“They’re sponsoring our cyber range, which is basically a lab that our students use,’’ ASCTE President Matt Massey said. “Cyber range is kind of like a firing range, as if you’re honing in your weapon on a target and you can practice in a safe environment. So basically what a cyber range can do is house a kind of separate environment that’s not on the network of the school. They take a separate operating system and students can try to hack into it, or they can defend it. That’s why it’s a great fit to have TVA as a partner.’’

Senior Justin Wright is in his third year at ASCTE after his family moved from Washington, D.C., to Montgomery so he would be eligible to attend the school. He has experience with the cyber range.

“It’s great,’’ Wright said. “I had a really unique opportunity last summer to actually be an intern helping develop prototypes for it. It’s super exciting. Especially in this mission, being able to bring cyber to students across Alabama, I just love that.’’