The company pretty much invented the hardware superstore when it began in 1978, just by being so big. They inflated the neighborhood tool shop into a whole city of lumber, hammers, caulk, power saws, and big rolls of wire. I would know I’m in a Home Depot blindfolded, because of a distinct quality to the air—crisp and particulate, smelling like wood dust and paint and the oiled metal of power tools. The Home Depot smell is buried deep in my childhood, filed somewhere between “building a deck” and “first day of spring.” Anyway, the Home Depot website is just as big. And while it doesn’t smell like sawdust, it’s easier to find stuff. Our roundup includes Home Depot promo codes from 20% to $100 off, new customer coupons, free shipping offers, and Pro discounts to drop prices by as much as 50% when you buy online.

Unlock Home Depot Promo Codes for 10% Off or $5 Off With Sign up

If you register for Home Depot’s Style and Decor newsletter, you get a special code for 10% off on furniture and home accents. Otherwise, you can sign up for the Home Depot coupon newsletter or text alerts to get an immediate $5 off the next in-store purchase of $50 or more. Another easy way to save sitewide at Home Depot is to set up a subscription for your go to products and automatically get 5% off and free delivery on your order.

Join the Home Depot Text Program for $5 Off

If you already shop a lot at Home Depot and are looking for other ways to save, signing up for The Home Depot’s Promo Text Program is a good idea. You’ll receive text messages with special promotions, offers, how-to guides for projects, and great design ideas. Plus, you’ll get $5 off your next purchase when you sign up.

Save Up to 50% With These Home Depot Coupon Codes and Discounts

Home Depot deals are in full swing with huge discounts on a myriad of gifts and home project-related items, like 10% off flooring for Pro members with promo code SAMPLESAVE10, or 20% off Electrolux handheld electronics with code ELECTROLUX20, like the ever-popular Electrolux handheld garment steamer. There are also offers for free tools with battery kit purchases, and buy one get one free deals from top names like Milwaukee, DEWALT, and RYOBI.

Power tools and hand tools are discounted up to 50% this season, as well as extremely handy lawn and outdoor power equipment that can help with shoveling and general pesky snow removal and home upkeep.

Home Depot Online Coupons: Up to 30% Off Air Conditioners

Summer’s here and that means rising temperatures, longer days, and higher heat index. Don’t be caught in the next heat wave without being prepared. With this Home Depot coupon, you can get up to 30% off air conditioners, plus everything else you need to stay cool like fans, smart thermostats, and more. This means saving hundreds on potentially lifesaving (and house-cooling) devices from top air conditioning brands like Midea, Windmill, LG, GE, Frigidaire, and more.

Up to 15% Off Grills at Home Depot

The best grills now offer a fair amount of tech to measure and control temperature (think: temperature probes and fans to modulate airflow). The WIRED Reviews team has been testing grills for more than a decade—searing, smoking, grilling, and even baking on them in all kinds of weather—to find the best choice for everyone. And Home Depot has a wide selection of grills for up to 15% off online right now. Get ready for outdoor summer grilling for less with Home Depot’s discounted grills—there’s something for every type of home chef, including gas, charcoal, pellet, portable, and kamado grills, plus smokers.

Shop Top Home Depot Sale Deals for up to $1,400 Off Appliances, Bath Items, and Tools

And as it turns out, the hardware giant also goes hard on discounts, slashing grills and garden and outdoor power tools by up to 50%, not to mention smokers like the new Traieger Woodridge (8/10, WIRED Recommends) also sold at Home Depot.

But that’s not all; Home Depot is covering the whole house! There are appliance deals of up to $1,400 off appliances, $1,000 off washer and dryer sets, and bathroom deals of up to 40% off vanities, 25% off bathtubs, 20% off on toilets, and 15% off showers.

Plus, Home Depot has appliance bundle deals where you can get major discounts when you purchase multiple appliances at once.

Get 40% Off With Home Depot Deal of the Day Coupons

Home Depot coupons of the moment include whopper deals like 15% off storage solutions, and 35% off washers and dryers. Explore more deals on kitchen and other furniture too, by checking out the deals of the moment here. Like we’ve stated, there are so many ways to save at Home Depot, even when you’re shopping online. Special Buy of the Days include steep price drops on certain products or entire brands—but the significant price drops only last for 24 hours. That’s a whole lot of savings for one of the most expensive home renovations you can do. Another saving hack? Ensure you jump on products marked with “New Lower Price” to find them at their lowest price yet.

Winter is a great time to stay inside and focus on home improvement projects. Home Depot has everything you need for remodels (including bulk buys). Right now, vinyl plank and tile flooring is up to 30% off, with options starting at 99 cents per square foot. Plus, power tool kit combos to save even more, with bundle deals of up to 70% off—including Deals of the day flash sales on tools, and appliances with rebates of up to $1,000. Deals include smart home items WIRED has covered extensively, like Nest learning thermostats (9/10, WIRED Recommends). Need advice on setting up a smart home? WIRED has your back. Not only do Deals of the Days (and over 1 million products) qualify for free shipping, but you can also get free delivery to your local Home Depot store or straight to your door with online orders over $45.

Save 20% With Home Depot Pro Xtra Discounts

Home Depot also offers a loyalty program called Pro Xtra for frequent flyers, whether you’re a contractor or just undergoing a serious remodel this year. This means exclusive prices up to 20% off, 10% discounts on bulk buys, a rewards point system, and occasional $50 off $250 coupons too. Painting the house? The program also nets you 10 to 20% off paint and primers. Pro Xtra offers multiple tiers, from basic membership to Elite and VIP.

Special Buys of the Week are bargains that are worth checking out, and pros can get discounts with the Pro Special Buy of the Week—and that’s on top of exclusive coupons, bulk product discounts up to 20% off, and everyday discounted pricing on items. Hot offers this week include: free tools or batteries with your purchase of tools from Milwaukee, RYOBI, and more premium brands, plus 20% off flooring. Also grab 40% off bathroom products like Kohler showers, tubs, vanities, faucets, tubs, and toilets, including luxury upgrades like Horow smart toilets and bidets.

Get 10% Off With the Home Depot Military Discount

Home Depot has long maintained a program offering discounts to active service members, veterans, and their spouses, offering 10% off all eligible purchases. You’ll need to register to verify your military status through SheerID, and from then on you can just scan your virtual ID or enter your phone number at checkout, same way you do at the grocery store. Note that military discounts are limited to $400 each calendar year, and this resets each year. Some commodity products are excluded, including lumber, wire, and building materials. Appliances are also out in the cold, but military families may still find special deals or tax-free shopping through Home Depot’s Military Exchange Program.

Get $100 Off With Home Depot Coupon Codes for Credit Cardholders

If you haven’t opened a credit card at Home Depot, now is a great time. If you have a new account, when you place your first order using your credit card, you can save up to $100 dollars (on qualifying purchases).

Plus, you can also get up to 24 months financing on special order and installed blinds, shades and shutter purchases with Home Depot promo code YU8QTSVQ3. You can also get up to 24 months financing on installed custom closet purchases with Home Depot coupon code 7MD4H2YQ2.

Give More With Home Depot Gift Cards

Not sure what to get for your dad, the grad, or the newlyweds in your life? That’s where Home Depot gift cards come in. Home Depot gift cards are the perfect present for the person in your life who’s always starting a new DIY project, or new homeowners who can use all the help they can get. It’s a great way to say ‘thank you’ or ‘congrats,’ and the giftee can choose what they want to invest in, so you can ensure it’s their perfect present. Plus, Home Depot gift cards come in both physical, plastic cards and eGift Card options, with a variety of designs available for even more gift personalization. You can redeem a Home Depot gift card in-store or online, and the gift card value never expires.

Midjourney, known for its AI program that can generate images from text prompts, has announced its new project: A medical machine that can scan your whole body in just 60 seconds. It’s so far removed from what Midjourney is known for that we had to check the date and make sure it wasn’t April 1st. Well, it’s not April Fools: The Midjourney Scanner is real, and the company is even building spas where you can find the machines and get scanned. 

In its announcement, Midjourney admitted that the project is not related to anything we’ve seen from the company so far. However, it’s at the point where it’s asking itself “How do we want to be different?” and “What do we want to become?” Its answer to those questions, apparently, is to launch Midjourney Medical, with the Scanner being its first hardware product. “We’ve dreamed of something as powerful as MRI, and as casual as a trip to the spa, and we’re unveiling a path to that – today,” it wrote in its blog post. 

After you step on a platform, Midjourney’s scanner will submerge you in water at a rate of 2 inches per second. Your body passes through a ring made of half a million squares the size of a grain of sand, with each one of them capable of emitting ultrasonic waves and of recording the ripples that bounce off your body and back to it. 

The company compares them to dolphins that use echolocation, so going through a scan is like being surrounded by half a million tiny dolphins from every angle. It says the result of the scan is a “3D map of your body, down to a fraction of a millimeter, that looks a lot like today’s MRIs but at nearly a hundred times the speed.” Midjourney’s goal is for the scan to take less than 60 seconds, a tiny fraction of the 60 to 90 minutes it typically takes to do a full-body MRI.

As Crypto Briefing notes, the company is developing the machine with handheld ultrasound device maker Butterfly Network. Midjourney signed a licensing agreement with Butterfly Network in November 2025, securing exclusive rights to its ultrasound-on-chip technology. The project is led by Ahmad Abbas, Midjourney’s head of consumer hardware projects, who joined the company in late 2023 after working on the Vision Pro at Apple.

Over the next 12 months, Midjourney will be fine-tuning its algorithms and the Scanner, doing research trials and working on a second-generation hardware design. It plans to open its first Spa housing Scanners in San Francisco sometime next year. The next step is to get the machine’s diagnostic capabilities approved by the FDA. In 2028, Midjourney hopes to expand to more cities and launch its third-generation machine that will use custom silicon to enable much better image quality. It says that’s when things will get “serious,” perhaps in relation to how the Scanner can compete with standard MRIs.

Midjourney’s ambition is to have 50,000 Scanners available worldwide by 2031. “We think it’s completely possible that with enough early imaging in the future, the world could avoid 30 percent of all deaths and 50 percent of all healthcare costs,” the company said. 

Microsoft has unveiled the latest edition of the Surface Laptop. While the new Snapdragon-powered machine brings some notable upgrades, it’s the combination of a claimed 20-hour battery life and a $1599 starting price that’s likely to get people talking.

The new laptop arrives in 13.8-inch and 15-inch variants, both featuring touchscreen displays and powered by Microsoft’s latest Snapdragon X2 processors. There’s also a new Surface Pro.

Moreover, according to Microsoft, the new chip delivers up to 58% more graphics performance than the Snapdragon X Elite found in the previous-generation Surface Laptop 7.

Battery life is the headline feature, particularly on the 13.8-inch model. Microsoft claims it can last for up to 20 hours on a single charge.

This is a figure that, on paper at least, puts it ahead of some of the best laptops. If that translates into real-world use, it could make the Surface Laptop 8 one of the most compelling Windows alternatives. This may appeal to users who prioritise endurance over everything else.

devops

Got big binaries? Tired of other version control systems that treat them like inferior files? Lore might be worth a look

Fortnite maker and Apple nemesis Epic Games has decided to git good all on its own with the open-source release of its homemade version control system, dubbed Lore.

The project began life as Unreal Revision Control, and was used by internal teams and as the version control system (VCS) built into Unreal Editor for Fortnite. Now, Epic is ready to share its handiwork with the world. 

Lore is a centralized, content-addressed VCS that’s meant to be more flexible for developers, as it’s licensed under the less restrictive MIT License instead of the copyleft requirements inherent in the GNU standard. MIT is generally considered more permissive because, unlike GNU, it doesn’t require derivatives to be licensed in the same way (e.g., a fork of Lore could be proprietary). 

Lore can be installed on macOS, Windows, and Linux and its server side is designed to be transportable into different cloud services as well. The biggest difference between Lore and other VCS is its equal treatment of text files – e.g., code – and binaries. 

“All content is treated as opaque byte streams on the hot path,” Epic explains in its system design explanation document. “Text-aware features are layered on top, never assumed by the storage or transport paths. Binary content gets the same first-class treatment as text.”

With that in mind, it’s obvious who Epic is targeting with the release: Game developers. 

Lore is purpose-built for projects that use large binary files such as games, Epic said, but that doesn’t preclude other use cases with heavy binary loads, like AI model builders, systems developers, and others who work with large amounts of machine-readable data alongside their own code.

We have lots of VCS data, so why do we need Lore?

There are plenty of VCS options out there: Git, Perforce, Mercurial (and its descendent Sapling) are all mentioned by Epic as alternatives that resemble Lore in its design and use. So, why a new VCS? That’s easy, says the Fortnite studio: None of ‘em do it all. 

Git, says Epic, has great revision graphing, but treats binaries as “second class citizens” and lacks multi-tenant isolation that ensures users on the same infrastructure can’t access each others work. Perforce requires multiple server round trips to conduct standard operations, making it too slow. Mercurial and Sapling elegantly solve “the scale of source repositories” via their distributed architecture, but again treat text as king and everything else as second-class data. 

“The motivation is not that prior systems are bad,” Epic explained. “What Lore offers that the prior art does not is the union” of all those features, and some others too.

Key design goals Epic had in mind when designing Lore included the aforementioned binary-first design, a sparse-by-construction architecture that only downloads necessary fragments from the server to clients to ensure fewer round trips, the elimination of partially-applied revisions, in-between states are invisible to readers, and a full-surface API that allows Lore to work with a variety of programming languages. 

If you want to give Lore a spin Epic has published a thorough quickstart guide, and pre-built binaries are available, ironically enough, on GitHub. ®

Relativity Space—a rocket maker acquired by former Google executive chair Eric Schmidt last year after stumbling on the path to orbit—might just beat SpaceX to Mars.

On Tuesday, NASA said it hired the company to build a spacecraft to house a suite of scientific instruments, launch it into space, and fly it to Mars.

The structure of the contract is akin to the deals that NASA made with SpaceX to fly cargo to the International Space Station, or Firefly Aerospace to put a lander on the Moon. The government agency handles the science, while the private company provides low-cost infrastructure.

Aeolus, as the mission is dubbed, will contain four instruments to measure and image Mars from orbit, providing what NASA expects to be the first daily, global view of dust, winds, and temperature in its atmosphere. The agency said that data will make it safer for landers and, someday, astronauts, to visit the surface of the Red Planet.

“By pairing NASA’s world‑class instruments with commercial innovation and investment, we can deliver more science, more often, and reduce the time it takes to get essential data into the hands of researchers preparing for future human missions to Mars,” NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said in statement.

The mission is set to launch in 2028—a rapid pace that will require Relativity to design and build the spacecraft to carry the Aeolus instruments, and finish building the rocket that will carry it to space, all on a tight timeline. NASA did not disclose how much it is paying Relativity for the mission, and Relativity did not respond to questions from TechCrunch.

Isaacman, who has flown to space twice on private SpaceX missions, has championed public-private partnerships like this. Under this model, the company working with NASA takes on some of the development cost of the project, in exchange for allowing NASA to stretch its budget further—a structure that has become a template for how the agency funds ambitious missions without bearing all the financial risk itself.

But NASA is taking on risk as well: Relativity is unproven, and there’s no guarantee the mission will even make it off the ground. Past startup partners of NASA have gone bankrupt or seen Moon landers arrive askew. The potential payoff for the company is meant to extend beyond the NASA contract itself, including commercial applications, like launching satellites or delivering cargo to the Moon. Still, the further out into space these partnerships reach, the murkier the market becomes for commercial services.

Relativity was founded in 2015 by two former SpaceX and Blue Origin engineers, with the idea of using 3D printing to its maximum potential as a path to building a cheaper rocket. The company’s first design, Terran-1, launched in March 2023 and failed mid-flight. Relativity doubled down by moving on to a larger design, dubbed the Terran R.

Before Relativity could get it to the launch pad, the company ran into fundraising challenges, and Schmidt took a majority stake in the company in it last year, installing himself as CEO. He’s been tight-lipped about the investment but has expressed interest in orbital data centers, and is thought to be using Relativity to launch a space telescope, Lazuili, financed by his family philanthropy, Schmidt Sciences.

The former tech executive’s decision to take over a space company last year puzzled some observers because rocketry is a crowded and capital-intensive field. But pent up demand for new rockets—fueled by delays at Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin—could still lead to a payoff for Schmidt if Terran R can actually make it to space.

And the new contract might give Schmidt a chance to put one over on Elon Musk, a regular sparring partner of his on the issue of AI safety. While Musk has long talked of his Martian ambitions, SpaceX has never actually sent its own mission to Mars (no, the Tesla he launched into space in 2018 missed).

If Relativity’s Aeolus launches on schedule, it could be the first private mission to reach the Red Planet.

cyber-crime

Latest Interpol review shows how scams continue to dominate, and AI-enabled attackers prove too hot to handle for cash-strapped regions

Cybercrime now accounts for more than 30 percent of all offenses across the Asia and South Pacific (ASP) region, according to the latest figures from Interpol.

The international cop shop said on Wednesday that the region has seen “a dramatic increase” in the number of recorded cybercrimes, driven largely by an uptake of digital infrastructure, new technologies, and the increasingly organized nature of criminal networks.

Interpol’s latest ASP Cyberthreat Assessment Report states that online scams and phishing attacks dominate cybercrime in the region. Data taken from 2024-2025 shows that phishing campaigns have matured beyond the spray-and-pray mass emails of yesteryear and now resemble the more sophisticated techniques deployed elsewhere in the world.

Targeted spear phishing is more common nowadays, and the growing use of AI helps even low-skilled script kiddies to apply a layer of authenticity to their attacks.

The region’s problem with organized scamming gangs that run camps where hundreds of people are compelled to commit crimes is especially pronounced and well-documented.

A United Nations report published last year described scam call centers across Southeast Asia as an epidemic that is metastasizing across the region “like a cancer.”

These compounds can be found across countries such as Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and the Philippines, and often see vulnerable individuals trafficked into the scam centers to work under poor conditions – or even as slaves.

Interpol cited Singaporean research, which estimated the regional scam industry generates close to $40 billion each year.

AI tools, especially those capable of generating convincing deepfake imagery, have also proven popular with cybercriminals across ASP, just as they have beyond the region.

In 2024, the same scam compounds were found using deepfake imagery to support romance scams.

In February 2024, an employee at a multinational business in Hong Kong was duped into authorizing a $25 million payment because the faces of company execs were convincingly deepfaked on a video call.

A similar case was also reported in Singapore in March 2025, when a finance director at a different multinational was tricked into transferring more than $499 million following a Zoom call in which fraudsters assumed the identities of company chiefs, including the CEO and CFO.

Interpol’s report highlights how cyber threats are evolving into large-scale challenges for multiple jurisdictions, and no longer represent relatively uncommon, isolated incidents.

While digitization across the region is growing, opening new economic opportunities for these countries, law enforcement agencies are struggling to keep pace with the increase in cybercrime. Many lack the skills and tools needed to investigate these crimes.

The issue is especially pronounced in developing countries and small island states in the Pacific, which face “significant resource and capacity constraints,” and are thus more vulnerable to direct targeting in attacks by criminals who have a greater chance of evading consequences.

Neal Jetton, cybercrime director at Interpol, said: “The findings in this report highlight a rapidly evolving cyber threat landscape across Asia and the South Pacific, where cybercriminals are leveraging artificial intelligence, ransomware-as-a-service models, and sophisticated social engineering techniques on an industrial scale.

“As digital adoption accelerates across the region, strengthening operational cooperation, information sharing, and cyber resilience remains essential to protecting communities and critical infrastructure.”

Some improvement

Interpol lauded many jurisdictions and governments within the ASP region for their proactive approaches to countering cybercrime growth.

Hong Kong and the Republic of Korea are two areas that have made strides by introducing new cybersecurity legislation, while others have established national task forces, codified national action plans, and launched awareness campaigns.

But even in more developed countries globally, and those with more mature cybersecurity regulatory and legislative landscapes, the issue of increasing rates of cybercrime persists.

While Interpol does not collect cybercrime figures for other regions, such as Europe and North America, in the same way that it does for ASP, it’s easy to see that problems persist everywhere.

The UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes crime rates by type across England and Wales each year, and while computer misuse offenses in 2025 decreased by 58 percent compared to 2017’s figures, there were still an estimated 735,000 cases across the year.

Expanding the data to look beyond pure cyber offenses to cyber-supported crimes, such as banking and credit fraud, these offenses account for more than 2.7 million of the circa 9.6 million total crimes committed.

The FBI in the US produces its annual IC3 report examining the rates of cybercrime across the country.

Although it doesn’t compare it to total offenses or other crime types, the latest report reflecting 2025’s figures showed cybercrime reports topped one million for the first time, and total losses reached a record $20.87 billion. ®

When high school students step into a cybersecurity internship, they enter a field where the stakes are real. The tools, threats and responsibilities extend well beyond the classroom. In rural communities, such opportunities can be transformative — for both learners and the regions working to build a future-ready workforce.

In eastern Alabama, cybersecurity pathways are creating new opportunities for collaboration between educators and employers, reflecting a broader lesson: Workforce development is more impactful when industry helps shape learning early. As cybersecurity threats grow more complex, many employers say preparing future talent does not begin at the point of hiring — it starts earlier, through partnerships connecting classrooms, credentials and real-world experience.

For district leaders and career and technical education (CTE) directors designing career-connected learning, these partnerships can help align instruction with workforce realities while expanding students’ access to high-demand careers.

Credentials matter, but they only tell part of the story. What really prepares students for cybersecurity work is exposure — seeing how systems operate in the real world and understanding the responsibility that comes with protecting them.— Scott Ross

Industry as a Co-Designer

Cybersecurity is a field that depends on industry insights. The tools and threats defining the work often evolve faster than traditional curriculum cycles, and employers see firsthand how quickly skill requirements change.

Scott Ross, director of information technology at HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, has seen how quickly the field changes throughout his career. While professional credentials such as Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) can signal readiness, Ross points to internships and applied experience as equally critical.

“Credentials matter, but they only tell part of the story,” Ross said. “What really prepares students for cybersecurity work is exposure — seeing how systems operate in the real world and understanding the responsibility that comes with protecting them.”

That perspective shapes HudsonAlpha’s engagement with regional education partners. As cybersecurity roles expand across sectors, from defense and healthcare to biotechnology and agriculture, employers are increasingly invested in helping students understand the range of opportunities available and the expectations that come with them.

A Regional Effort Takes Shape

In eastern Alabama, those connections are coordinated through the East Alabama Regional Cybersecurity Alliance (EARCA), a collaboration among K-12 districts, postsecondary institutions and industry partners focused on growing local cybersecurity talent. Rather than operating in isolation, schools and employers are aligning around shared goals: relevant curriculum, meaningful credentials and work-based learning opportunities tied to workforce needs.

Ross sees this regional approach as essential. “Cybersecurity isn’t limited to one industry,” he said. “When education and employers collaborate across sectors, students gain a clearer picture of where these skills apply, and regions build stronger, more adaptable talent pipelines.”

With thousands of unfilled cybersecurity roles in the state, that alignment helps keep learning connected to opportunity.

When students know their learning connects directly to real jobs, it changes how they approach the work. They’re not just completing assignments; they’re preparing for environments they know they’ll encounter.— Tanner Gamble

How Industry Partnerships Shape Learning

For educators, industry engagement can change what is possible inside schools. Tanner Gamble, the computer science and cybersecurity teacher at Childersburg High School in Talladega County, has seen how employer involvement reshapes student motivation and confidence.

“When students know their learning connects directly to real jobs, it changes how they approach the work,” Gamble said. “They’re not just completing assignments; they’re preparing for environments they know they’ll encounter.”

Preparing teachers for industry-aligned instruction is also central to the effort, said Ira Lacy, who trains educators and connects them with employers to support cybersecurity pathways across Alabama.

“When you train teachers using industry practices and give students access to authentic experiences, you start building a pipeline that lasts,” Lacy said. “We’ve seen graduates in North Alabama come back to mentor younger students and invest in their hometowns, and now we’re applying the same approach in eastern Alabama.”

Internships and industry-aligned credentials help validate pathways at the school level by demonstrating clear connections between classroom instruction and real workforce needs.

“Internships and credentials act as the ‘proof of work’ for school cybersecurity programs,” said Hillary Rogers, principal of Childersburg High School. “They bridge the gap between theory and real-world practice, ensuring students aren’t just learning about the digital front lines — they’re equipped to operate in them.”

Learning That Changes Trajectories

That impact is evident in Gavin’s experience, a junior at Childersburg High School who participated in a summer internship with the IT department at Heritage South Credit Union. During the internship, Gavin worked alongside IT staff, troubleshooting real systems, building and maintaining network infrastructure, and learning how access and risk are managed in real-world settings.

The experience opened the door to continued applied learning. Gavin now supports the IT department at Childersburg High School and earned his CompTIA Tech+ certification, an early milestone in a pathway focused on technical skill development and professional responsibility.

“The internship allowed me to start dreaming for myself and what I want my future to look like,” Gavin said. “I’ve always been interested in space, and now I can see different paths, like working in aerospace or eventually leading an IT department near Huntsville.”

For employers and educators, helping students see concrete future pathways is a powerful outcome of early work-based learning.

Why Employers Invest

While not every employer is positioned to host interns, those who engage early gain clearer insight into student readiness and stronger workforce alignment. Early exposure helps employers identify motivated learners and reduce uncertainty in later hiring decisions.

“If we wait until graduation to connect with talent, we’ve missed an opportunity,” Ross said. “Early exposure helps students prepare, and it helps employers build a workforce that understands their needs.”

At a regional level, these investments can contribute to rural economic stability by increasing the likelihood that students will pursue and remain in local careers.

A Blueprint for Other Regions

EARCA is part of broader efforts led by Digital Promise’s Center for Learner Pathway Innovations to develop statewide cybersecurity pathways that connect education and workforce systems. Pathways are strongest when learning, work and community are connected early. For students like Gavin, that collaboration opens doors. For employers, it helps ensure the next generation is ready to meet that demand.