Cyber4Youth Anniversary

Article written by: Srishti Bhattacharya

Article designed by:  Srishti Bhattacharya & Palak Tiwari

On November 18, 2024, the Cyber for Youth team hosted their first workshop at Monta Vista High School. By the end of the day, four hundred ninth grade students changed the way they saw  online safety forever. 

Since then, Cyber for Youth has expanded their team globally from California to Africa! We’ve raised funding to $8000, built partnerships with 10+ organizations, launched podcasts, ambassador programs, internship programs, monthly newsletters, and led over a dozen national workshops and events across elementary schools, elder centers, and teen programs. 

 But the urgency of our mission has never been clearer: 1 in 3 teenagers have experienced cyberbullying, and only 10% will tell a parent when it happens. This silence is exactly what Cyber For Youth set out to break. “I can’t believe that a year ago, Cyber for Youth was just an idea I had after realizing how common online harassment is and how little it’s talked about. Now, I am so grateful for the amazing community, impact, and memories we’ve made together. Cybersecurity still is not talked about enough, and there is so much work to do, but I’m excited for what’s ahead and so proud of what we’ve accomplished so far!” says Ria Sethi, the founder of Cyber for Youth.   

With the mission of providing people with the tools they need to navigate the digital world safely and confidently, Ria separated the team into 4 categories: Marketing, Research & Writing, Communications, and Leadership. 

The Marketing team manages all of Cyber For Youth’s social media, coordinates with other teams to curate slideshows for lesson plans, and designs promotional posters. Many marketing team members have volunteered to attend workshops at schools and have completed many event posts while handling Cyber For Youth’s Youtube, Instagram, Linkedin, and Facebook. Over the past year, the team has accumulated over 2.5 million views and 300k likes!  This year, the team plans to launch a cybersecurity game, reach more followers, and complete school-district wide poster implementation.

The Research & Writing team has worked hard to develop accurate, engaging, and age-appropriate content on digital safety, and teach this content in formats such as blogs, and workshop materials. They have hosted 18 workshops, and published 10 articles, managing to reach almost 10K people! In the future, they hope to finalize all workshop content and launch programs at schools and community centers. 

The Communications team is responsible for outreach to organizations that can potentially host a workshop, donate, or partner with Cyber For Youth. They are a big help to preparing and presenting for events and workshops. They have posted online workshops educating students on cybersecurity topics for the public and secured a partnership with Cyber Secured Africa.

The Leadership team is made up of Ria Sethi as Executive Director, and the four team heads: Rafael Joaquin Bañes as Marketing Head, Nirvika Choudhury and Sahana Suresh as Research & Writing Heads, and Samhita Srimath Kandali as Communications Lead. They oversee the organizational strategy, ensuring cross team collaboration, managing external partnerships, supervising large-scale events and internship programs, while maintaining internal structure. They have interviewed and selected 50 members, fundraised thousands for Cyber For Youth, and led many national workshops throughout the U.S.. Under their leadership, Cyber For Youth has been able to accomplish the partnerships, the funding, the internship launches, ambassador programs, increase diversity in the team, launch many projects and workshops, and so much more. 

In just one year, Cyber For Youth has transformed from a single idea to a global movement. What began as a workshop for high schoolers has become a group of over 50 passionate teenagers, millions of social media impressions, and workshops that have touched the hearts of every age group. And yet, this is only the beginning! Cyber For Youth is proof that young people can lead change, and a single spark can ignite a wave of impact across the world. 

If you’d like to help us continue this work, donate to Cyber For Youth to make a direct impact: https://hcb.hackclub.com/donations/start/cyber-for-youth

If you’re a teenager who wants to represent Cyber For Youth in your own community, visit our website to apply to be an ambassador! https://www.cyberforyouth.org/ambassadorprogram