Team Wins 2nd Place, Southeast Region

2016-03-08

Contact: Shannon Landin Codecraft Lab FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 16, 2016 Codecraft Lab CyberPatriot Team Wins 2****nd Place, Southeast Region Open Division Award March 16, 2016 – A team of high school students from Codecraft Lab in Melbourne, Florida recently concluded an exceptional round of competition in the eighth season of CyberPatriot – the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition.

Established by the Air Force Association ⎋, the CyberPatriot National Youth Cyber Education Program was created to excite, educate, and motivate students toward careers in cybersecurity and other science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines critical to our nation’s future. CyberPatriot’s core program – the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition – challenges teams of two to six students across the United States, Canada, and from DoDD schools abroad, to find and resolve cybersecurity vulnerabilities in simulated environments. Top teams from the preliminary online rounds win an all-expenses-paid trip to Baltimore, Maryland for the live National Finals Competition, where students compete for national recognition and scholarships. The CyberPatriot field is divided into three divisions – the Open Division for public, private, and home school teams, the All Service Division for JROTC, Civil Air Patrol, and Naval Sea Cadet Corps teams, and the Middle School Division. Based on the results of two preliminary rounds, CyberPatriot VIII high school teams were categorized within their divisions as Platinum, Gold, or Silver Tier teams, with Platinum Tier teams representing the highest scoring teams. In all, 3,379 teams registered to compete in CyberPatriot VIII. Led by Coach Shannon Landin, the team of students from Codecraft Lab excelled in the CyberPatriot VIII qualifying rounds, demonstrating teamwork, critical thinking skills, and technical knowledge key to a successful career in cyber security. The team’s performance earned it a spot in the Southeast Open Division Round held February 19-21, during which it outscored other advancing teams to win the Southeast region’s Open Division 2nd Place Award. “With the help of the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition and fantastic technical mentors from local Space Coast companies, students are finding early success and recognition for their efforts,” said Shannon Landin. “I’m simply delighted.” Top teams in the Open and All Service Divisions’ Platinum Tier and the top three Middle School Division teams nationally will advance to the CyberPatriot VIII Finals Competition in Baltimore, MD, April 10-14. More information is available at www.uscyberpatriot.org ⎋ or at www.codecraftlab.org ⎋. #### 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. Codecraft Lab is a non-profit company with a mission to create curriculum and opportunity for all kids to learn computer science and computer programming concepts though hands-on STE(A)M powered projects,  meaningful mentor relationships, and powerful play.