The Cyber Security students have made it to the gold tier in the Cyber Patriot Competition and they are continuing to compete to keep the gold and not drop in ranking.

Cyber Patriot is a National Youth Cyber Education Program that was made to direct students towards things like cyber security and other science, technology, engineering and mathematic or STEM careers.

Cyber Patriot teaches students how to problem solve and work together in the Cyber Patriot competition. During the competition students work as an IT manager at a company, cracking codes and changing passwords. Of the competition Aron Wiley, senior, said that it helps carry “general security on computers” into his everyday life.

It is open to all high schools, middle schools and some home schools across the country. In the Cyber Patriot competition, students compete in four rounds, leading towards the semi-finals and the finals, over the course of November to February.

Tim Shipley, CSA teacher, said that the team is doing “pretty good [with] four teams.” Students have a three-day window to complete the competition over a six-hour block at a time.

The competitions that Cyber Patriot have been competing in this year are the “first two in the first semester and the last two in the spring semester.” According to Shipley, the first rounds were in Nov. 4, 2017, on Dec. 2, 2017, and Jan. 20. The Feb. 9 round is still to come.

Students involved in Cyber Patriot like the teamwork aspects. Logan George, junior, said, “I like working on all of the different programs besides Microsoft.”

With the Cyber Patriot season soon drawing to a close, Cyber Security students are pushing to make it as far as they can before the 17-18 school year is all over.