St. Croix Teams Complete First Round In Cyberpatriot Competition

ST. CROIX — Four teams comprising of students from St. Croix’s high schools participated in CyberPatriot –the National Youth Cyber Education Program competition — for the first time on the island. Students probed into the cyberspace educational venture at the Career and Technical Education Center (CTEC) and at the University of the Virgin Islands on Monday. High schools represented were St. Croix Educational Complex, St. Croix Central High and St. Joseph’s High School.

CTEC Electronics and Computer Programming Instructor Gregory Christian has been diligently preparing three teams for the first round of the competition under the mentorship of Ms. Laverne Stout. His teams were at a CTEC classroom for the competition. Coach Colleen Clarke and her all-girls team took the first leg of the CyberPatriot challenge at UVI’s St. Croix campus.

St. Croix’s teams along with other teams around the globe participating in the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition were placed in the position of newly hired Information Technology (IT) professionals tasked with managing the computer network of a small company. In this first round of competition, teams were given a set of virtual images that represented operating systems and were tasked with finding cybersecurity vulnerabilities within the images and hardening the system while maintaining critical services in a six-hour period.

Top scoring teams in the nation earn all-expenses paid trips to Baltimore, Maryland for the National Finals Competition, where they can earn national recognition and scholarship money.

Mr. Christian is the mastermind behind Virgin Islands public school students’ participation in the nine-year CyberPatriot contest. “It was very interesting and truly a historic day at St. Croix Career and Technical Education Center,” said Mr. Christian after the six-hour competition came to a halt around 3:15 p.m. on November 14. “Our students did their best. It is their first step into the ocean. Next year, there will be significant improvement as we will continue with our virtual training program.”

Akyme Prince, an 11th grader at the St. Croix Educational Complex said the competition was eye-opening and he intends to compete again next year if given the opportunity. “I got a lot from participating in the competition,” he said. “I made new friends and learned how to work along with others to accomplish a common goal.”

Students worked continuously throughout the competition, with team members alternately taking short breaks for nourishment while other member continue at the computer to solve “breached” software and network issues, Mr. Christian said. After five days, the teams will know the results of their efforts.

Participating in the CyberPatriot competition at CTEC were Team 1 comprised of students Jhaleek Christian of St. Joseph’s High School, and Akyme Prince and Zareik O’ Farrell Williams of the St. Croix Educational Complex.

Team 2 members are Giovane Barnes, Alexia Adams and Joshua Ramsundar all of St. Croix Central High. St. Croix participants in Team 3 of CyberPatriot completion are St. Croix Educational Complex students Sherville Huggins, Lance Frank and Derwyn Austrie along with Jayme Colbert-Williams of St. Croix Central High School.

All girls’ team members participating at the University of the Virgin Islands were St. Croix Educational Complex students DaRe’one Christopher, Kailee Clarke, Gelisa Evans and Mikaela Smith. Parents attended to show support for their children from an adjoining classroom.

“This activity presents an exciting hands-on venue for students to demonstrate their aptitudes in problem-solving, critical thinking, and decision-making through the targeted application of information and communication technologies and protocols,” said Everett Ryan, St. Croix District Coordinator of Technology for the Virgin Islands Department of Education. “With increasing worldwide demands for skillful individuals who can proactively monitor, defend, and if necessary initiate offensive cyber operations, initiatives like the CyberPatriot competition are pivotal in training the upcoming cadre of computer scientists and engineers.”

According to the program’s website, “CyberPatriot is a National Youth Cyber Education Program, created to motivate students towards [a] career in cybersecurity and other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The competition is not only fun and exciting, it also creates a career path for today’s students, fostering continued education from high school through college and into the beginning of their careers.”

Successful teams in Round 1 of the CyberPatriot competition move on to the second round December 9 -11, 2106. Other events timeline counting down to the National Finals Competition in Baltimore, MD April 2 – 17, 2017 are the State Rounds, January 13 – 15, 2017, the Regional-Category Semi-Final.

CyberPatriot was established by the Air Force Association. The Northrop Grumman Foundation is the Presenting Sponsor for CyberPatriot IX.