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Civil Air Patrol, Cape Fear Squadron NC-023’s CyberPatriot Team Wins Region/Category 1st Place Gold Tier Award.

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Cadets gain valuable experience in cybersecurity.

By 1st Lt Rick Paxton, CAP
Commander, Cape Fear Composite Squadron

1/30/2015–Wilmington, NC–A team of Civil Air Patrol Cadets from the Cape Fear Squadron in Wilmington, North Carolina recently concluded an exceptional round of competition in the seventh season of CyberPatriot – the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition.

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 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. Based on the results of two preliminary rounds, CyberPatriot VII high school teams were categorized within their divisions as Platinum, Gold, or Silver Tier teams, with Platinum Tier teams representing the highest scoring teams. 

In all, 2,175 teams registered to compete in CyberPatriot VII, including 43 teams from North Carolina.

Led by Coach Timothy McDoniel, and Mentor Earl Nida, the team of Cadets from the Civil Air Patrol, Cape Fear Squadron excelled in the CyberPatriot VII qualifying rounds, demonstrating teamwork, critical thinking skills, and technical knowledge key to a successful career in cybersecurity. The team’s performance earned it a spot in the Regional/Category Round held January 16-18, during which it outscored other teams to win the All Service Division’s Region/Category Gold 1st Place Tier Award.

“The Cadets worked very well together over a period of 6 hours finding the security vulnerabilities in the simulated environments, answering the forensic questions, and in completing the Cisco challenge. I am proud of what they have accomplished this year. They had fun, learned quite a bit regarding Cyber Defense,  and enjoyed the camaraderie of working as a team.” Said Coach Timothy McDoniel.

Top teams in the Open and All Service Divisions’ Platinum Tier and the top three Middle School Division teams nationally will advance to the CyberPatriot VII Finals Competition in Washington, DC March 11-15.

More information is available at www.uscyberpatriot.org or from the CyberPatriot staff at info@uscyberpatriot.org.