Goal achieved: MHS grad on way to Air Force Academy

After a year at its preparatory school, 2022 Maricopa High School graduate Charles Liermann is on his way to the United States Air Force Academy. He left for bootcamp Monday. 

Related: MHS student lands spot at Air Force Academy prep school – InMaricopa 

Aspiring to attend a service academy after high school, Liermann worked on his leadership skills at MHS. He was an officer in the Air Force JROTC program, led a team for CyberPatriot in his information technology class, was a member of the National Honor Society, helped freshmen in Link Crew, and was co-captain of the cross-country team. High school was an opportunity to build his “leadership resume,” Liermann said. 

“I was giving myself all the experience I could to prepare myself for a military setting and being able to lead people in that setting,” he added. 

Liermann plans to pursue a degree in cybersecurity but will officially declare his major in his junior year. He had the chance to meet the course director, a colonel, who gave him a glance at the curriculum and classrooms.  

“It was really cool,” Liermann said. “They had this cybercity … it was a citywide network that was virtualized.” Hacking threat scenarios were given to students, who had to locate the hacker’s IP address and location. 

The academy is building a $58 million computer science and cybersecurity center, which Liermann will be one of the first cadets to use. 

He has some time before he gets to use tech like the cybercity and whatever awaits inside the new cybersecurity building. For the first two years of study, he will take all of his prerequisite classes. 

“It’s such a huge honor to go to this school because it’s one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the nation,” said Liermann, the son of Maricopa Councilmember Amber Liermann.