Cybersecurity has become a top national concern and finding the right people to protect the U.S. against cyber attacks is key.
In an effort to promote interest in this field for students, the Air Force Association created the National High School Defense Competition know as CyberPatriot. According to the association, the purpose of the competition is to "excite, educate, and motivate the next generation of cyber defenders and other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics graduates our nation needs."
Recently, members of U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command's G3, Lt. Col. Craig Cox, Capt. John (Jack) F. Bierce and Maj. Jennifer Adams-Buckhouse, as well as Maj. Paul Nix of the Battle Lab, assisted the William Mitchell High School Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps team by mentoring them in preparation for the CyberPatriot competition.
Round one of the competition occurred on Oct. 23 at William Mitchell High SchoolAca,!a,,cs JROTC building in Colorado Springs, Colo. Lt. Col. Keith Woodfork (MitchellAca,!a,,cs JROTC instructor) and Corey Hodges (MitchellAca,!a,,cs Computer Science Coach) served as advisors for the team in preparation for the event, but once the timer began, the five JROTC cadets were on their own. The team had to compete with no advice or support from their coach or instructor. Bierce also attended the event to provide support and encouragement.
"The cadets performed well, relying on their team captain to organize them and research things they didn't fully understand," Bierce said.
The competition lasted six hours and in the end, the Mitchell team was one of 34 teams across the nation to skip over round two scheduled for Nov. 6, 2010, and automatically advance to round three later this year.
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