CYBER SCIENCE PROGRAM ADVANCES TO REGIONAL ROUND OF CYBERPATRIOT
Several teams from our Cyber Science program have advanced to the regional round of the Air Force Association's (AFA) CyberPatriot, the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition. The middle school team (Micro Dons) currently ranks second in the country out of 598 teams after placing first in the state of Maryland. This is the second straight year that a Loyola middle school team has won the state round.
Additionally, two upper school teams (Team Cerulean and Team Refuse) placed 2nd and 3rd in the state of Maryland to qualify for regionals. They emerged from a pool of more than 2,000 teams vying to qualify for the next round of competition. This is the fourth year in a row that Loyola has placed teams in the top three of the upper school state round.
Please congratulate the following Dons on their success in CyberPatriot:
Micro Dons (Middle School Team)
Will Erdman
Jack Klug
Sean Reiners
Julian Javillo
Graham Goldsborough
Matt Fleschner
Team Cerulean
Henry Ballentine
Jack Connolly
Colin Bowes
Ainsley O’Garro
Henry Mackay
Matt Hawkins
Team Refuse
Antoine Kallab
Will Thornhill
Nick Kristy
Jack McErlean
Michael Vaughan
Mike Maher
We caught up with our Director of Cyber Science, Mr. Steve Morrill, on what this recent success means for the program. "Students involved with the Cyber Science initiative at Loyola dedicate a lot of their own time into learning as much as they can about one of the fastest-changing and growing subject areas. Thanks to the tenants of a Jesuit education, our students are already naturally positioned to excel at all things cyber. We are proud of their efforts as they continue to be competitive and find success at this level."
The next round of competition takes place February 3–5.
Established by the Air Force Association, the CyberPatriot National Youth Cyber Education Program was created to excite, educate, and motivate students toward careers in cyber security and other science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines critical to our nation’s future. CyberPatriot’s core program – the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition – challenges teams of two to six students across the United States, Canada, and from DoDD schools abroad, to find and resolve cybersecurity vulnerabilities in simulated environments. Top teams from the preliminary online rounds win an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, DC for the live National Finals Competition, where students compete for national recognition and scholarships.
The Air Force Association is a non-profit, independent, professional military and aerospace education association, whose mission is to promote a dominant United States Air Force and a strong national defense, and to honor Airmen and our Air Force Heritage.
