Whether the plot followed Sara Connor as she desperately fought to protect her young son, John, or John himself as he battled alongside his futuristic troops, the antagonist always remained the same, looming presence — Skynet.
Though Skynet is a fictional artificial superintelligence system, real virtual threats exist and perpetually bombard systems throughout the world. Luckily, students at Cañon City High School are already laying a foundation to combat such threats.
The 2023-24 school year marks the first that CCHS students have braved the CyberPatriot National Youth Cyber Defense Competition. The competition seems to have been earmarked for the seven to 10 students, due in no small part to their recent first-place finish in the Gold Tier — a monumental feat.
"This program links competitive fun, educational goals, and career inspiration in one high-paced team event," CCHS Principal Bill Summers said. "We love that our students are experiencing an event typically reserved for urban students with greater resources. Our community partners have come through on behalf of our students to provide such a critical opportunity."
According to the website, CyberPatriot "is the world's largest cybersecurity competition and is open to all schools and approved youth organizations ... The National Youth Cyber Education Program is [a] STEM program of the Air & Space Forces Association. It was created to inspire K-12 students toward careers in cybersecurity or other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines critical to our nation's future."
Last summer, Tavian Broadhead, who works as a network and security operations analyst for Second-61 Integrated Technology Services in Florence, Colo., contacted Summers and Superintendent Adam Hartman about the possibility of founding a CyberPatriot team in Cañon City.
"The school administration has been phenomenally cooperative, we've not run into any issues ... they've been extremely supportive," Broadhead said.
Second-61 and Broadhead worked closely alongside Re-1 IT and administrators to get the proper equipment installed and running at CCHS. Though it was no small task that presented its share of hurdles, the experts at Second-61 cleared them without issue because of their expansive technological expertise. Second-61 regularly accepts contracts from the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Law Enforcement Agencies, county municipalities, school districts, and many more.
Once the computers and corresponding programs were installed, Broadhead was ready to receive his first students — who were readily supplied in part by the already active internship program at Second-61.
"I have strongly enjoyed the high school interns, we've gotten a bunch of dedicated ones that work very hard," Broadhead said.
CyberLeague participants were also found in CCHS business/technology instructor Ben Newman's Future Business Leaders of America club.
Students ranged in technological experience from bare-base knowledge to frequent coding and systems use. However, Broadhead was instrumental in bringing the students, regardless of beginning knowledge, to the point of competing as a well-oiled team. The team met once a week to refine their technology knowledge and prepare for the multiple tiers of competition.
The competition, which began in the fall and stretched throughout the winter, is composed of three brackets: silver, gold, and platinum. Through a series of online competition rounds, teams were given a set of virtual operating systems and were tasked with finding and fixing cybersecurity vulnerabilities while maintaining critical services. Using a proprietary competition system, teams are scored on how secure they make the system.
Each team had two challenges during their four-hour competition period:
- Network Security Challenge: involves finding and fixing security vulnerabilities in Windows and Linux operating systems.
- Cisco Networking Challenge: consists of an online quiz and a virtual networking exercise based on specific training materials.
"They remediate security issues, apply policies, identify security risks, reform large level managements — [which are] directly career applicable stuff," Broadhead noted. "It's one of the reasons I really like it, it's very realistic and practical."
The top placement in the gold semifinals bracket correlates to the top notch in the state of Colorado and, although platinum teams (which consist of college students) are usually the only ones to head to CyberLeague Finals, Broadman noted that occasional wildcard teams may be allowed to go — which are in Washington D.C. Even if this year's team isn't permitted to go, he has high hopes for the future.
"I am absolutely very, very impressed with the work the students have done. They have learned so much faster [than I thought], they are phenomenally adaptive and intelligent," Broadhead said.
The success of the CCHS team is just the tip of the iceberg regarding the larger tech community in Fremont County. Already, two tech-based centers are based in the area, including FEDC TechSTART in Cañon City and Emergent Campus in Florence. Broadhead and others who are already enmeshed in the tech world hope that CyberPatriot will provide a stepping stone for students of all backgrounds.
"Our goal is always and continues to be developing the community," Broadhead said.
"I've learned a lot of stuff like coding, cybersecurity, how to do certain things, what to watch out for — it's really fun," said junior Michael Sosa-Welsh. "It's nice to learn about my real-world job that I will do eventually ... I want to prepare to be a network security engineer."
According to Broadhead, rural America is primed to be well-respected tech centers and the CyberPatriot program will likely continue to feed into an already booming industry in Fremont County.
"[When I started] I could kind of function on Windows 10," said senior Abigail Gaule. "They helped me figure things out and I'm still definitely learning."
Although Gaule plans to be a military nurse after high school, she's sure that cyber knowledge will be beneficial in any capacity even if it doesn't directly correlate with her chosen career field.
It's unlikely that Skynet will become a threat to the everyday world, but either way, CCHS students are preparing, and succeeding, every day to take on the tech world.
©2024 Daily Record, Canon City, Colo. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
