Students from Padua Academy in Wilmington once again triumphed in the 12th season of CyberPatriot – the Air Force Association’s National Youth Cyber Defense Competition.
The all-female coding team won first, Place Award in Delaware in the Platinum Tier, advancing them to the National Semi-Finals, where they placed 165th out of 1,200 qualifying teams. Padua’s team has won the state title for seven years.
Established by the Air Force Association in 2009, CyberPatriot is designed to educate and motivate students toward careers in cybersecurity and other science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines critical to our nation’s future.
Led by Coach Fred Stinchcombe, the team of students from Padua excelled in the CyberPatriot XII State Round held in December, demonstrating teamwork, critical thinking, and technical skills needed for a successful career in cybersecurity.
“It’s been another great year for the Cyber Pandas. The girls have performed fantastically. As a young person you learn really quickly that to win, you need to engage in teamwork and creative thinking. It supplies so many life lessons that just can’t be taught within the confines of a classroom setting. Now we move on to GirlsGoCyberStart and another season of the National Cyber League!”
From 6,760 teams registered for the competition season, the CyberPatriot field is divided into three divisions – the Open Division for public, private, and home school teams; the All Service Division for JROTC, Civil Air Patrol, and Naval Sea Cadet Corps teams; and the Middle School Division for middle school-aged students. Based on the results of two preliminary rounds, CyberPatriot XII high school teams were categorized within their divisions as Platinum, Gold, or Silver Tier teams, with Platinum Tier teams representing the highest-scoring teams.
More information about the CyberPatriot Competition is available at www.uscyberpatriot.org.
