Boise Civil Air Patrol Cadets Qualify for National Cybersecurity Competition
Boise Civil Air Patrol Cadets Qualify for National Cybersecurity Competition
By 1st Lt. Stephanie Payton, CAP, and Capt. Ken McConnell, CAP
Boise Composite Squadron’s CyberPatriot high school team, the Boise Bees, will compete in the Air and Space Force Association’s National Youth Cyber Defense Competition, March 17-21 in Bethesda, MD.
The Boise Bees took first place in state for their division and this year is the first time that the team has qualified for CyberPatriot’s prestigious final round of competition.
“The Boise Bees have never made it to the finals at the High School level before. This is new territory for the team, and we're very proud of their efforts to get this far. They are the number two team in all of Civil Air Patrol,” said Capt. Ken McConnell.
CyberPatriot is the Air and Space Force Association’s National Youth Cyber Defense Competition. High school and middle school students compete to secure virtual networks in simulated cyber attacks drawn from real-life cybersecurity issues in the field.
The Boise Bees CyberPatriot team competes against other Civil Air Patrol (CAP) teams across the nation, as well as teams formed by the Naval Sea Cadet Corps and Junior ROTC Cadets from each military service branch.
Competing at the national competition is the culmination of five years' worth of weekly meetings, home study, and mentoring from local cybersecurity professionals. Three Cyber Security industry mentors volunteer to pass on their industry knowledge to the cadets, and one former team member who is working as a Cyber Security intern. The amount of knowledge that a CyberPatriot team member learns is enough to send them down a lucrative career path that continues to be in demand.
The team was formed in 2017 by Ken Lane. He saw cybersecurity as a critical new career field that cadets, as digital natives, should be trained in. Ken discovered the CyberPatriot competition and recruited local cyber security experts to help mentor the team. The cadets on that first team selected the name “Boise Bees” after WWII pilot Lt. Col Duane W. Beeson’s fighter plane, the “Boise Bee.”
The current team is busy preparing themselves for the final competition and they are excited to compete against other cadets in our nation’s capital.
The Boise Bees team members are:
Cadet Master Sgt. Nathan Pearl, Cisco specialist. He joined the middle school team in 2020 and continued into high school.
Cadet Chief Finnegan Cretser, Windows 10 specialist.
Cadet 2nd Lt. Sihu Hwang, team captain and Linux Specialist. He also began on the middle school team in 2020 and continued into high school.
Cadet 2nd Lt. Natalie Salyer, the team’s Cisco specialist.
Cadet Capt. Owen Klein, the team’s Windows Server specialist.
For More Information:
Press Contact
1st Lt. Stephanie Payton, CAP
Idaho Wing Public Affairs Officer
Mobile: 1+ 208-353-8107
Email: spayton@idwgcap.org
