City High will expand its Advanced Placement program next year with the addition of two new courses: AP Business with Personal Finance and AP Cybersecurity. Both classes aim to give students a college-level introduction and experience to these courses and prepare them for fast-growing fields in the future.
AP Cybersecurity, taught by Joe Wilcox, will launch its first year across the nation through College Board. City has offered a cybersecurity class for the past two years, but the new AP version allows students to take an AP exam and potentially earn college credit.
The course will focus on network security, firewalls, and VPNs. Students will participate in hands-on activities like “Capture the Flag” challenges, where they practice ethical hacking in controlled environments to understand how to defend systems from threats. According to Wilcox, prior coding experience is helpful but not required for the class.
“There’s been a shift,” Wilcox said. “Cybersecurity is where the growth in computing is right now.”
Wilcox added that cybersecurity is one of the fastest growing career fields in Iowa, with strong salaries even for students who pursue a two year degree.
AP Business with Personal Finance will combine core business principles along with financial literacy. The course will cover how businesses operate while also teaching money management skills. Business teacher AJ Leman said the class will be similar to the college credit business courses he already teaches, but with the opportunity for students to take the AP exam at the end of the year.
“In my class, since I actually run businesses, you’re going to learn a lot about how to run an actual business, not just from the assignments, but from a lot of discussions, and then hopefully some of the speakers we bring and some of the community partnerships that we form throughout the class,” Leman explained.
Students can expect real-world applications in the class, including guest speakers from the community and potential marketing projects for local businesses.
Both courses aim to prepare students for college and careers while expanding City High’s already large AP course offerings. Registration is still open and available for anyone needing to make changes for their schedule for next year.
“[I’m excited to] learn about the business side of things, and trying to apply it in my every day life,” said YoBenni Tejada ‘27
