Editor’s note: This story have been updated to correct the spelling of a name.

A local student has earned a spot in the Lockheed Martin internship program through the Colorado Northwestern Community College cybersecurity program. 

Gwen Doizaki, a 2021 graduate of Moffat County High School, is starting her third semester at CNCC, and if everything goes as planned, she will graduate in December 2023.

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After graduation, Doizaki has committed to move to Colorado Springs and start work on an entry-level program team with Lockheed Martin, an international tech corporation that works with aerospace, defense and information security. 

“I did not think that two-thirds of the way through my associates degree I would already have a job lined up, and I didn’t think it would be with one of the bigger tech companies in this country,” Doizaki said. 

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In January 2024, Doizaki will join Lockheed Martin as a programmer, and she will also fulfill some administrative duties for higher-ups in the department. She said she won’t know exactly what she’ll be working on until she gets there, and because of the confidential nature of the work, she won’t be able to tell anyone about it, not even her family. 

The position won’t technically be an internship. It will be a part of Lockheed’s SWAPS program, where new graduates are hired into paid positions for one year with a starting salary of $50,000 and a benefits package with paid time off and 401K contributions.

The company also offers tuition reimbursement and pays for up to three years of tuition for employees to earn a bachelor’s degree. Ideally, the company would look at bringing Diozaki on full time once she gets her four-year degree. 

“Since they work for the government, they like to get the opportunity to get you in there fresh and mold you into what they want,” Doizaki said. 

Bobby Williams, the interim director of cybersecurity for CNCC, knew about the internship through his own work with Lockheed Martin and shared the opportunity with the cybersecurity students by encouraging them to apply. 

Doizaki ended up being one of the only local cyber students to apply, and she applied for multiple open positions. The application process spanned about eight months and was extremely thorough with citizenship verification, urine drug tests, fingerprint and background checks, and even vetting Diozaki’s family. 

“Lockheed Martin is a little bit of an odd duck in the tech world,” Doizaki said. “They are not like Apple; they are not for your average consumer. They deal with the government and military tech, and tech that other tech companies use.” 

Doizaki said she thinks the CNCC cyber program will help prepare her to step into this new role next year, especially considering the staff, who created the curriculum and are also cybersecurity professionals, encouraged her to apply and coached her through the interview process. 

In the past, Doizaki has worked at Pizza Hut and done some babysitting, so this is going to be her first full-time career role. 

“I am excited, but I am also a bit curious as to which direction it’s going to go,” Doizaki said. “It’s going to be a little bit of an adventure.” 

Doizaki was born in Colorado Springs and still has a half-sister there. She moved to Craig when she was 3 years old and went through Moffat County School District for all of her education.

She began taking concurrent enrollment classes while she was still in high school, so when she started the cyber security program she already had a leg up on her core classes.