Cybersecurity Students Place Top 10 in State Competition
Pictured (L to R): Samantha "Echo" Ridenour, Ijaz Ali, Brayden Buelow, James Forton, Caiden Caswell
From 20th in the state to 6th in the second round, a team of students from Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency (KRESA)’s Career & Technical Education (CTE) Cybersecurity class excelled at this year’s CyberPatriot 18 competition.
CyberPatriot is a national youth cyber defense competition created by the Air & Space Forces Association that challenges high school students to secure and harden virtual computer systems against real-world cybersecurity threats.
Teams compete in timed rounds by fixing vulnerabilities on Windows and Linux systems while following professional security best practices.
The students on the team placed 20th out of 75 Michigan teams in the first round and improved to 6th out of 68 in the second round. The team advanced to the national round but did not qualify for the semifinal round.
Congratulations to the following team members on this incredible accomplishment:
- Samantha “Echo” Ridenour, Loy Norrix
- Ijaz Ali, Portage Central
- Brayden Buelow, Portage Central
- James Forton, Portage Central
- Caiden Caswell, Vicksburg
This competition was a valuable hands-on cybersecurity experience for the students in addition to the knowledge they gained through the KRESA Career Connect CTE Cybersecurity class.
In the Cybersecurity class, students dive into cyberspace, protect computer operating systems against cyber threats, solve real-world scenarios using technology and cybersecurity strategies, and more.