Pictured are the members of Team Maroon from Red Bank Regional AOIT, which took first place in the CyberPatriot NJ State Competition. Left to right: Young Chen, Andrew Costa, Woody Quinn, Bobby Villaluz, Jack Ferrone, Kyle Neary.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
The recent hackings of American government and corporate institutions have rocked our nation and emphasized how important a superior cyber security industry is to the defense of the United States. Finding talented individuals to fill the future roles of our Cyber Patriot warriors is the reason the Air Force Association’s CyberPatriot Competitions were developed.
For the past eight years, Red Bank Regional High School has offered a superior program in Cyber Security for its students in the award-winning Academy of Information Technology (AOIT). In fact, in the first year the Cyberpatriot contest opened to public high schools, RBR took first place in the nation.
RBR exhibited this same strong performance in the CyberPatriot State Round that took place on January 14. That day six RBR teams worked from the school media center to compete virtually, determined to take the title for New Jersey. They ended the six-hour competition by sweeping the First, Second and Third place NJ State finishes.
ABOVE: The members of RBR’s Team Gray, which took Second Place in the recent state championship, included (first row) Dylan McRae, Max Mason, Makoto Brown, and (second row) Nahjeek Mitter, Jared Prezwodek (not pictured: Matt Cindrario). BELOW: The members of Third Place Team White included Josh Goldsmith, Charlotte Jansky, Akin Gaddis, Chloe Sharpe, Brycen Greco, Harry Jain.
This is the second year in a row that three RBR AOIT teams won all three top places in the state competition, and the third year RBR took both first and second place. The teams are coached by RBR AOIT Teachers Mandy Galante and Jeremy Milonas.
These three teams have now earned eligibility for the elite level of the CyberPatriot competition. Out of the 1,548 Open Division teams across the country that started in September, only the top three from each state plus 36 wildcard teams will advance to the Regionals Platinum competition, which will be held virtually in February. Their goal is to be one of the top 12 high scoring teams, and earn a trip to the Nationals competition taking place this April in Baltimore, MD.
The Cybersecurity curriculum was developed in 2008 by IT professional and RBR AOIT teacher Mandy Galante. It encompasses a four year instructional-track in computer hardware, networking, security and digital forensics, with a concentration on active labs with real equipment.
This unique curriculum coordinates with computer science to build a solid foundation in cyber security. The purpose of this track is to spark student interest in a crucial career path which protects American government and corporate assets against cyber attacks. For more information on the CyberPatriot Competitions, visit their website at https://www.uscyberpatriot.org/.
