Cisco Networking Academy Fields Dream Team for Cisco Live!

Today, I had the opportunity to speak with students of the Cisco Networking Academy. These students were selected to run the network at Cisco Live this year and run the Cisco Network Operations Center (NOC).

An innovative information and communications technology (ICT) education program, the Cisco Networking Academy provides a million students worldwide with the skills needed to design, build, manage and secure computer networks. This educations provides a pathway to ICT jobs, further education and globally-recognized industry certifications.

I’m very proud to say that many of the Networking Academy students are veterans. In fact, the Army at Fort Gordon, Georgia trains over 2,600 soldiers annually in its Networking Academy program.

Networking Academy students have demonstrated increasing value, providing excellent technical support to Cisco teams, and customer support to 17,000+ attendees at Cisco Live. At the event, the lead team, also known as the Dream Team, is comprised of 10 academy students and 2 academy instructors.. This year there were more than qualified 60 applications for the 10 Dream Team spots—being accepted to this team is a huge accomplishment! There are also 30 Orlando-area academy students helping to staff Cisco Live.

All of the Networking Academy students and instructors have been working around the clock to ensure that everyone attending Cisco Live has access to the network and can enjoy the event.

To express my gratitude and appreciation for going above and beyond the call of duty, I presented each of the Networking Academy students with a challenge coin. The coin symbolizes a job well done and will hopefully, forever remind them of their excellent work at Cisco Live.

We are excited to have each of the Networking Academy students and instructors here to further their education and make this event possible.

To learn more about the Cisco Networking Academy click here.