Poolesville wins big in CSAW and CyberPatriot competitions

Computer science and cybersecurity are both growing fields in today’s world. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that they expect the demand for STEM- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics- jobs to grow by at least 9 million by 2022. Competitions like CyberPatriot and Cyber Security Awareness Week (CSAW) aim to prepare students for the increasing demand in their respective fields.

In CyberPatriot, middle and high school students are put in the positions of IT professionals, and are given a series of operating systems that they must troubleshoot and find weaknesses in. It puts the competitors in a realistic situation, and allows them to prepare for the real world. PHS has not competed for very long, but the team has placed third for the last two years.

In CSAW High School Forensics, teams choose from categories including network analysis, mobile forensics, live system forensics, steganography, file carving, and more, answering questions to earn points. They are then flown into one of CSAW’s international locations to compete in the finals. This is PHS’s tenth year competing, and the team has been in the finals every year.

Technology resource teacher Mr. Mark Estep explains how students are able to use what they learn in class as a foundation for these other topics. As these skills weren’t taught specifically by teachers in the classroom, students have to take the initiative to learn them.

Senior SMCS student Sreya Vangara agreed with this statement wholeheartedly. She explains that participating in these competitions takes perseverance. The competitors don’t have to be knowledgable, they just have to be able to pick themselves up after hitting a roadblock. As a bit of advice for the future competitors, Vangara says, “If you want to do something, just ask.”

Though these competitions are for all students to participate in, they are mainly SMCS dominated.