Veronica Colegrove

Veronica Colegrove fell into teaching and social work after graduating college, and that was fine for time being, but her heart—and her degree from Oberlin College—was in computer science. With that in mind, she enrolled in City Colleges of Chicago’s first Cyber Security Boot Camp, a program co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense at CCC’s Wright College. From there, Veronica was on her way to turning her passion into a profession – thanks to the Cyber Security Boot Camp, she is a Technology Consultant in the Security and Privacy Lab at Protiviti, a global consulting firm.

“The cyber program at Wright was amazing and literally changed my life,” said Veronica. “If I didn’t make the decision to participate in it, there’s no way I’d have the job I have now and I wouldn’t be so optimistic about my professional future.”

The 26 year-old has been at Protiviti for almost three months. She credits the cyber security program with giving her not just skills and tools necessary to succeed in her field, but also a confidence that she’s sure will take her far.

“The teachers were tough but encouraging, and extremely knowledgeable, and the training had us researching and solving hard problems every week,” she proudly added. “Working at that pace for 6 months let me develop the skills and fortitude to tackle new challenges as they arise in my work.”