QED National President Earns NYC DOE Award for IT Commission

QED National is proud to announce that its President and Founder Colleen Molter was presented the “NYC CTE Champion of the Year” award by the New York City Department of Education CTE Program and the United Federation of Teachers for her trailblazing work as the chair of NYC Career and Technology Education’s (“NYC CTE”) IT Commission.

“This makes me smile,” Molter said, “I’m proud to be a part of the work that we’re doing in the program and believe we’re making a real difference.”

Since becoming the chair in 2019, Colleen put together a formidable brain-trust of cyber security industry leaders from across the country and under Molter’s direction this group was instrumental in the establishment of a cyber security focused program for the CTE students. Since then, a curriculum was developed and provided to a number of NYC CTE schools. This incredible feat will empower NYC students so that they can address the growing needs of the cyber security and technology industries.

“I know this program is important to the students of New York City,” Molter said, “There’s plenty of opportunity in today’s labor market for IT and cyber security talent – who better than our City’s students to learn about these career paths?”

Students will receive substantial technical training and internship opportunities aimed to prepare them for higher education, IT jobs and cyber security jobs, learning about relevant industry trends, discipline approaches/methodologies, and current technologies. In preparation for this moment, QED National has offered externship opportunities to NYC CTE teachers who have shadowed senior QED National resources, gaining firsthand experience of active cybersecurity professionals. The goal is to properly prepare teachers about current happenings in the information technology industry, providing the knowledge and tools necessary to educate the talented students of New York City.

“While I’m tremendously honored to receive the CTE Champion of the Year award,” Molter said, “The real champions are the teachers, students, and administration of the New York City CTE program. What they’ve been able to accomplish throughout this pandemic has been nothing short of incredible.”

This substantial partnership between IT industry leaders and the NYC CTE Program is destined to create a positive impact for many years to come.