National High School Cyber Defense Competition Passes 300 Milestone

ARLINGTON, Va., March 11, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Air Force Association (AFA) announced today that CyberPatriot, the National High School Cyber Defense Competition, already has more than 300 teams pre-registered to compete in next school year's CyberPatriot VI competition! With 45 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, and Japan already represented, educators are seizing this opportunity to bolster STEM education in their communities. Only Iowa, North Dakota, Montana, Rhode Island, and West Virginia have yet to join the national challenge.

CyberPatriot is the premiere national high school cyber defense competition created by the Air Force Association to inspire high school students toward careers in cybersecurity or other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines critical to our nation's future. Teams across the country compete in a series of online rounds to determine finalists for an all-expenses-paid trip to the nation's capital and the CyberPatriot National Finals Competition in March 2014.

"I am continually impressed with the incredible growth and enthusiasm our program seems to generate each year," said Bernie Skoch, CyberPatriot Commissioner. "We look forward to introducing a larger range of students to cyber defense, cyber careers and other aspects of operating in the cyber realm. With our nation facing an increased need for the next generation of cyber leaders in our workforce, CyberPatriot provides an environment where students work as a team to solve vulnerabilities in a network and defend computers from real-life computer threat scenarios."

"This program was created to inspire students and teachers to embrace STEM education in high schools throughout the country," said George Muellner, Air Force Association Chairman of the Board. "Now, six competition seasons later, we have built a community of students, coaches, mentors, and sponsors that all support the belief that STEM and cyber security is critical to the future success of our country."

Teams also benefit from the expertise of the competition's sponsors, including the Northrop Grumman Foundation, CyberPatriot's presenting sponsor, which has contributed mentors, internships and scholarship money to the competition. Other CyberPatriot sponsors include founding partners SAIC and CIAS at the University of Texas-San Antonio.

Any high school – public, private, charter or home – can field a team for the Open Division, while Junior ROTC units from any Service and Civil Air Patrol and Naval Sea Cadets Corps squadrons are eligible to field teams in the All Service Division. The educational experience and materials are identical for students in either division.

To learn more and pre-register for CyberPatriot VI please visit www.uscyberpatriot.org. Information is also available from the CyberPatriot staff at [email protected]. To view a map of the locations already represented by CyberPatriot VI pre-registrants visit http://bit.ly/Xt7mMs.

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. To accomplish this, we:

• EDUCATE the public on the critical need for unmatched aerospace power and a technically superior workforce to ensure U.S. national security.
• ADVOCATE for aerospace power and STEM education.
• SUPPORT the Total Air Force family and promote aerospace education.

AFA has 200 chapters nationally and internationally representing more than 105,000 members. Visit AFA at www.afa.org.

SOURCE Air Force Association