CyberPatriot is a national youth cyber education program created by the United States Air Force Association to help motivate students toward careers in cybersecurity and other STEM disciplines. The program has a variety of offerings for K-12 students, but the main feature is the annual National Youth Cyber Defense Competition.
The National Youth Cyber Defense Competition is a virtual competition that puts teams of high school and middle school students in the position of newly hired IT professionals tasked with managing the network of a small company. Through a series of online competition rounds, teams are given a set of virtual operating systems and are tasked with finding and fixing cybersecurity vulnerabilities while maintaining critical services. The intent of this competition is to not only teach proper internet/web etiquette and safety but also to produce a well-qualified cyber workforce. Several of our students have gone on to get internships and full time employment in the cyber industry.
Currently, the CyberPatriot Team at Affton High is one of over 5,000 teams competing worldwide in season 15 and is currently sitting in First Place in Missouri. The success of our team is linked directly to the dedication of our volunteer and mentor, Mr. Curtis Dawkins, 2018 graduate from Affton High School and current Information Security Engineer.