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Midway through high school Landon Faber ’26 was looking for a class to fill his schedule. He didn’t know what to take, so on a whim he chose “programming.”

What he didn’t realize at the time is that that class and that teacher, Mr. Stasiak, would fulfill way more than his required credit load.

“The way he taught the class and how fun he made it really sparked my interest for the entire thing,” said Faber.

Faber proceeded to take every possible class related to computer programming over his final two years in high school. When it came time to choose a college, he knew what he wanted to study and where he’d go—a highly accredited tech school not too far from his hometown of Parker, Colorado.

Then, his dad, who had previously taught at 51���� for 30 years, thought his son should at least pay it a visit.

A visit changes everything

“When I came to 51���� on a tour, I was pretty much dead set on another school,” said Faber.

But like that few credit class in high school, a few hours on campus changed everything.

“The best way to describe it really is I liked the vibe a lot more. It was more of what I was looking for in a college and where I wanted to live for at least the next four years,” said Faber.

A class sparks a new passion

So Faber started on his journey at 51���� and was heading down more of a standard software engineering track. This time, a course he took his sophomore year in college, a cybersecurity course taught by Brian Paige and Adam Vedra, proved to be another pivot point.

“That class was really interesting. All of the concepts were good, and it was taught well. There was a good mix of lecture and hands-on activities,” said Faber, who graduated in 2026 with a computer science degree.

One of those activities was the final project where students were asked to perform a penetration (pen) test. Put simply, Faber and his peers were acting as ethical hackers trying to mimic a cyberattack to uncover any vulnerabilities in the security of a system. 

“I previously didn’t think I was that interested in cybersecurity, but then I took the course, and I was like, ‘oh, this is actually really cool,’” said Faber. “When I’m working with network tools and things, it’s cool to be able to see and interpret things and understand more about how it all works and how to stop attackers from snooping on data or gathering things they shouldn’t be able to.”

More classes lead to more opportunities

So, like in high school, Faber followed his passion and took every related course that he could find. One of those courses was a network security course taught by Professor Rocky Chang. 

Through taking that course, he got connected to a research project this summer where he’s working alongside Chang and other researchers in the internet research community to use NRP (National Research Platform) tools to analyze global-scale internet infrastructure data. He will then use this research to develop future cybersecurity training modules for use in university courses. 

This summer, he also completed CompTIA A+ certification. And he attributes his success to completing that certification to another elective course he took at 51����: system administration taught by Professor Chris Wierenga.

“I applied a lot of the skills I picked up in that class as I worked toward that certification,” said Faber, “It made it a lot easier having taken that class.”

Finding a career and a community

It's clear that at 51���� Faber discovered that his dream job is in some area of network security. But what he also found over the past four years was far more than a career path.

From playing Pickleball or disc golf in parks around Grand Rapids to volleyball on Tuesdays and Thursdays with professors and fellow students, Faber has thoroughly enjoyed the people and the place he’s been for the past four years.

“I’m planning to stick around,” said Faber of his intention to . He says he’s planning to find a job in information technology after he completes his research this summer.