Wednesday, Jan. 30 2013 7:24AM
Summit Technology Academy CyberPatriot team qualifies for national competition
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ReprintSummit Technology Academy CyberPatriot team qualifies for national competition
A local team of students from Summit Technology Academy in the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District is headed to the Washington, D.C., area March 14-16 as a finalist in the national competition of the nation’s largest and fastest growing high school cyber defense challenge – CyberPatriot V.
Summit Technology CyberPatriot team members are Elias Duckworth, Lee’s Summit West High School; Brian Green, Lee’s Summit North High School; Sage Mehl, LSWHS; Taylor Scafe, LSNHS; Kevin Schulmeister, LSNHS; Keaton Thomson, LSWHS; and Ben Wolff, LSNHS. The team is coached by Lisa Oyler, Summit Technology Academy teacher. John Madick of Epiq Systems in Kansas City, Kan., served as the team’s mentor.
Summit Technology has the only team in Missouri to qualify for the national competition. Last year, the local team qualified for semi-finals.
CyberPatriot is a National High School Cyber Defense Competition and an education initiative established by the Air Force Association in 2008. It is a one-of-a-kind cyber-defense competition designed to inspire students to consider science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields in their studies. The unique structure helps to prepare college- and career-ready students with not just technical skills, but also invaluable experience in teamwork, leadership, and critical-thinking. Competitors also gain great insights and technical expertise from industry leaders, including CyberPatriot’s presenting sponsor, the Northrop Grumman Foundation.
Led by Coach Oyler, the Summit Technology Academy team is one of 12 finalist teams for the competition’s open division. This year’s two-track competition had public, private, and home schools registered in the open division, while Junior ROTC units of all services, U.S. Naval Cadet Corps squadrons and Civil Air Patrol squadrons filled the all service division. In all, more than 1,200 teams registered to participate, representing all 50 states, U.S. Department of Defense Dependent Schools in Europe and the Pacific and Canada.
The open division began with more than 400 teams registered. After two energetic rounds of competition from teams’ home locations, 48 teams advanced to Round 3. Since then, the group has been reduced to 12, and each advancing team will receive all-expenses-paid trips to the CyberPatriot National Finals Competition at the Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md., where they will compete face-to-face and defend virtual networks from a professional aggressor team.
The top team from each division will be announced at an awards banquet following the competition. CyberPatriot’s founding partners are SAIC and the CIAS at the University of Texas-San Antonio. More information is available at www.uscyberpatriot.org or from the CyberPatriot staff at info@uscyberpatriot.org.
