Regians Confront Cybersecurity at Annual CyberPatriot Competition

Above: The team of Regians who competed in CyberPatriot X Platinum and placed first in New York state in the state round: Nevyn Duarte ’18, Michael Valverde ’19, Frank Matranga ’18, John Chiaramonte ’18, Nicholas DeLuca ’18, and Richard McCLure ’18.

A team of Regians recently concluded an exceptional round of competition in the tenth season of CyberPatriot — the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition.

The Regis CyberPatriot Team placed first in New York State out of 28 teams and advanced to the semifinal round. While they did not advance to the finals, their score advanced them to the Category Platinum Tier (the highest tier to compete in). Over 4,400 teams nationwide registered to compete in CyberPatriot X.

Established by the Air Force Association, the CyberPatriot National Youth Cyber Education Program was created to excite, educate, and motivate students toward careers in cyber security and other science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines critical to our nation's future.

CyberPatriot’s core program-the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition-challenges teams of two to six students across the United States, Canada, and other schools abroad, to find and resolve cybersecurity vulnerabilities in simulated environments. Top teams from the preliminary online rounds earn an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. for the live National Finals Competition, where students compete for national recognition and scholarships.

The CyberPatriot field is divided into three divisions: the Open Division for public, private, and home school teams; the All Service Division for ROTC, Civil Air Patrol and Naval Sea Cadet Corps teams; and the Middle School Division. Based on the results of two preliminary rounds, CyberPatriot X high school teams were categorized within their divisions as Platinum, Gold, or Silver Tier teams, with Platinum Tier teams representing the highest scoring teams.

Two additional teams from Regis also competed and excelled, placing ninth and tenth out of 28 teams in New York for the State round Platinum Tier.

Led by Coach Caroline Christie, a faculty member in the Regis Computer Science Department, all three Regis teams demonstrated impressive teamwork, quick critical thinking skills, and robust technical knowledge in cybersecurity.

Reflecting on the experience, the teams expressed gratefulness for having had the opportunity to make it so far in the program, and for having learned so much from each stage of the competition. It provided valuable experience, as it offered the opportunity to develop real-world skills in cybersecurity through a strategic, team-based competition.