VHS CyberPatriot Team Wins 1st Place West Region Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

3/8/16

Valencia High School CyberPatriot Team Wins 1st Place West Region Award

A team of high school students from Valencia High School in Placentia, California recently concluded an exceptional round of competition in the eighth season of CyberPatriot – the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition.

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 from DoDD schools abroad, to find and resolve cybersecurity vulnerabilities in simulated environments. Top teams from the preliminary online rounds win an all-expenses-paid trip to Baltimore, Maryland 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 JROTC, Civil Air Patrol, and Naval Sea Cadet Corps teams, and the Middle School Division. Based on the results of two preliminary rounds, CyberPatriot VIII high school teams were categorized within their divisions as Platinum, Gold, or Silver Tier teams, with Platinum Tier teams representing the highest scoring teams.

In all, 3,379 teams registered to compete in CyberPatriot VIII.  Led by Coach Dwight Osborne, Valencia High School students Bryce Tsuyuki, Vinay Venkat, Luigi John, Zain Raja, and Digivay (DJ) Jani excelled in the CyberPatriot VIII 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 Regional Gold Division Round held February 19-21, during which it outscored other advancing teams to win the Gold Category West region’s 1st Place Award.

More information is available at www.uscyberpatriot.org or from the CyberPatriot staff at
[email protected]. The Air Force Association is a non-profit, independent, professional military and aerospace education association. Our mission is to promote a dominant United States Air Force and a strong national defense, and to honor Airmen and our Air Force Heritage.

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Media Contact: Lyndsey Akers

[email protected]