CyberPatriot Defends Marymount’s Technology

Kat LoScalzo '16, Assistant Student Life Section Editor

In a world where technology defines the future, society must learn to cyber defend. Marymount High School welcomes a new cyber defense program: CyberPatriot.  The Air Force Association founded CyberPatriot, a national youth cyber defense competition, to inspire both high school and middle school students to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Teams of 5-6 students compete across the U.S. during the school year in a race to secure computer vulnerabilities. Teams become acquainted with several different operating systems, policies, cisco, malware, and so much more!

Photo courtesy of Kelli Huynh.
Photo courtesy of Karen Antholis.

CyberPatriot was implemented at Marymount for two reasons: to teach students how to become cyber secure and to encourage female participation in the STEM fields, where women are a minority. Marymount’s first-ever CyberPatriot team, CyberSailors, has recognized this unequal gender ratio and hopes to help stabilize it. Not only do they reach out to the student body through weekly security tips and malware removal, but they also invite girls from other all-girls schools to join the cause. CyberPatriot Club President, Kat LoScalzo ’16, spoke at an administrators meeting in Marymount. Administrators from fifteen all-girls schools attended the meeting and several of them expressed their interest in implementing the CyberPatriot program in their respective schools. Although a relatively new program at Marymount, CyberPatriot is already making a difference. Evie Antholis ’16 shares, “Because of CyberPatriot, I feel more comfortable in the male-dominated STEM realm.”

2CyberPatriot taken by Kelli Huynh
Photo courtesy of Milkah LoScalzo.

The CyberSailors have a team website! For more information and for our weekly security tips, please visit: http://mhscybersailors.wordpress.com.