A team of high school students from George Mason High School recently concluded an exceptional season of CyberPatriot – the Air Force Association’s National Youth Cyber Defense Competition.
In all, over 5,500 teams registered to compete in CyberPatriot X. Led by coach Steven Knight and William Snyder the team of students from Mason excelled in the 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 Semifinal Round, during which it outscored other teams to win 10th place overall among Open Division teams in the Gold Tier of the Open Division.
The young team called Sad Boys has been working for 3-4 years to reach this level of experience. The team consisted of (from left to right) Nicholas Costa (team captain), Jonathan Oppenheimer, Erik Bjorklund, Ian Zullo, James Trombo and Paulo Costa.
Top teams in the Open and All Service Divisions’ Platinum Tier are set to compete in the CyberPatriot X National Finals Competition on April 16-18 in Baltimore, Md.
CyberPatriot’s core program – the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition – challenges teams of students across the United States, Canada and other schools abroad to find and resolve cybersecurity vulnerabilities in simulated environments.
