Cyber Dons Advance to CyberPatriot National Finals
For the third consecutive year, Loyola Blakefield’s nationally-recognized Cyber Science Initiative (CSI) has qualified a team for the Open Division National Finals of the Air Force Association's (AFA) CyberPatriot — the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition — which will take place in Baltimore from April 16–18.
Team Dorado, comprised of students Drew Haiber ‘18, Greg Peterson ‘18, Chris Ptak ‘18, Nick Kristy ‘18, Manny Spanos ‘20, and Michael Chaney ’19, is one of just 12 teams to advance to the finals from a pool of 2,757 Open Division teams in the U.S. and Canada.
The competition consisted of four grueling rounds (Round 1, Round 2, State Round, Semifinals) of intense online competition over a five month period (October 2017 – March 2018). Five of our high school teams placed in the top 50 nationally in the Open Platinum Division, while our two middle school teams finished 14th & 26th nationally out of 1,110 total teams.
The final 12 teams will compete to defend virtual networks and mobile devices from a professional aggressor team. They will also face off in three additional competition components. These extra challenges will expose competitors to new elements and skillsets of the many career opportunities available to them.
"Loyola is proud of our students’ continued effort to compete at the highest level and advance to the national finalist round of Cyber Patriot X," said Steve Morrill, Director of Cyber Science. "This is one of the many highlights from this year that has continued to provide inspiration for our younger students to become involved in the initiative."
The final 12 teams will compete to defend virtual networks and mobile devices from a professional aggressor team. They will also face off in three additional competition components. These extra challenges will expose competitors to new elements and skillsets of the many career opportunities available to them.
"Loyola is proud of our students’ continued effort to compete at the highest level and advance to the national finalist round of Cyber Patriot X," said Steve Morrill, Director of Cyber Science. "This is one of the many highlights from this year that has continued to provide inspiration for our younger students to become involved in the initiative."
Established by the AFA in 2009, CyberPatriot is designed to excite, educate, and motivate students toward careers in cybersecurity and other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines critical to our nation’s future. The CyberPatriot field is divided into three divisions – the Open Division for public, private, and home school teams; the All Service Division for JROTC, Civil Air Patrol, and Naval Sea Cadet Corps teams; and the Middle School Division. Top teams from the preliminary online rounds earn an all-expenses-paid trip to Baltimore for the in-person National Finals Competition, where students compete for national recognition and scholarships. More information is available at www.uscyberpatriot.org.
The Air Force Association is a non-profit, independent, professional military and aerospace education association. Our mission is to promote a dominant United States Air Force and a strong national defense, and to honor Airmen and our Air Force Heritage.
