En Garde! CSM Graduate Chases Cybersecurity Dream While Lunging Toward a Competitive Fencing Career

Real Students, Real Stories

For College of Southern Maryland (CSM) Alumni Kurt Miller, ’22, attending CSM was an easy decision: He knew that the college’s Cybersecurity program was top-notch and would provide a strong foundation for his future goals. What the Huntingtown resident didn’t know was that a hobby he picked up while attending CSM would end up defining the next stage of his life.

Shortly after starting classes at CSM, Miller signed up for a competitive fencing class in Northern Virginia. He had been interested in the sport since trying it at a youth summer camp, and he was looking for a way to stay active since his classes were all online. Before he knew it, Miller was traveling to Virginia four nights a week to work on his skills.

“At first, I just thought that it would be a nice side thing, but I started getting pretty good at it,” he said. “Everyone there had been fencing for years and I was just starting out,”

Today, Miller is a fencer for Drew University which is ranked 4th among Division III fencing programs. He fences at competitions up and down the East Coast and he is among the top 50 junior fencers in the region. He says that the flexibility of a CSM education allowed him to arrange his schedule so that he could focus on reaching a higher level in both fencing and his studies, simultaneously. 

“That first year starting fencing was so integral,” he explained. “I might not have been able to pull off fencing for Division III if I hadn’t attended CSM.”

The college junior is also now pursuing a double major in Cybersecurity and Computer Science thanks in part, to the foundations he laid and classes he took at CSM. In addition to his associate degree in Cybersecurity, he already has workforce experience under his belt from a summer job as a computer analyst with Charles County Public Schools.

“All my CSM professors were really welcoming and willing to help with everything,” he said. “I felt well prepared when I got to college, even though it was all online, I still feel like it kept me on my toes. The transfer process to Drew University was seamless and the classes I took at CSM really got me into an outstanding position to be able to double major.”