California High School Cyber Challenge Winners Announced

California Secretary of Education Bonnie Reiss and State Chief Information Officer Teri Takai yesterday announced the winners of the first annual California Cyber Challenge for High School competition.  The contest was conducted during April and May and is the first state-sponsored high school level competition that begins preparing students for a career in cyber security.  Modeled after a similar, national effort for college students, the pilot competition included three volunteer high schools from Sacramento, Elk Grove and Brea in Orange County.

“Congratulations to the winners and all the participants of the California High School Cyber Challenge for demonstrating such amazing talent,” Reiss said. “Ensuring every young person has the opportunity to realize their great potential continues to be the administration’s top priority, and by doing so, we will continue to lead the nation in cutting edge technology.”

“I am so pleased to see California students participating in this competition, an important step toward a possible career in cybersecurity -- this growing field requires skills that are highly in demand,” Takai said.  “Congratulations to all those individuals who participated. Great work!” 

”Providing an opportunity for these students to learn more about cybersecurity is a great first step,” said California’s Chief Information Security Officer Mark Weatherford.  “Cultivating this talent and providing these students opportunities is something many of our state’s technology employers are clamoring for to combat the growing cybersecurity threat environment.”

Paralleling the U.S. Cyber Challenge (USCC) which is a national talent search and skills development program to find 10,000 young Americans with skills to fill the ranks of cybersecurity practitioners, the California Cyber Challenge for High Schools begins the process in identifying talented students.  The goal of the USCC program is to provide students with access to advanced education, and where appropriate, enable them to be recognized by employers where their skills can be of the greatest value to the nation.

The contest required students to learn about security related issues online by researching information at various sites on the Web and then participating in a series of quizzes to test their knowledge.  Points were totaled by the total number of correct answers. 

Three California high schools volunteered to compete for what is planned to be a statewide, annual event in future years.  The high schools competing include Brea-Olinda High School of Brea, Franklin High School of Elk Grove and McClatchy High School of Sacramento.  

The overall school award winners are:
 

• First Place – Brea-Olinda High School with 98 players and a combined score of 1,271,026 points
• Second Place - Franklin High School with six players and a combined score of 85,863 points
• Third Place - McClatchy High School with 18 players and a combined score of 85,146 points

The top 5 individual winners are:

1. H Chi, 19,302 points – Brea-Olinda High School
2. D Gimbel,  19,136 points – Brea-Olinda High School
3. S Purpura, 18,618 points – Brea-Olinda High School
4. C Yeh, 18,226 points – Brea-Olinda High School
5. K Weber, 18,088 points – Brea-Olinda High School