Six students from the Troy High School NJROTC program recently earned their school’s fifth title as national champions at the CyberPatriot XVI National Finals.
The student team known as W.A.T.T., or We Are Troy Tech, competed alongside their peers in the All Service Division through a series of challenges testing their cybersecurity expertise in network and operational systems. The three-day event, hosted by the U.S. Air Force Association, concluded with an awards banquet on March 18.
“We are all very proud of both of our teams for their amazing accomplishments at the CyberPatriot XVI National Finals competition,” said David Kim, cyber defense coach and computer science teacher at Troy. “Team W.A.T.T.’s victory meant a lot, especially since they were all first-time national finalists.”
The Troy High School cyber defense program was also represented by team Runtime Terror, which earned sixth place in the Open Division among almost 3,000 teams. In addition to their award, team captain Anna Wu was named a Cyber All-American for qualifying in the CyberPatriot finals all four years of her high school career.
Through mentorship opportunities and continued support from the alumni and coaches, Coach Kim said the cyber students have been able to progress year after year.
“The hard work and dedication that both teams put into preparing for the competition truly paid off, which reflects the passion and determination of our students and the strength of the Troy cyber program,” Kim said.
Here are the other stories we’ve been following this week:
- On Thursday, KNBC Los Angeles visited OCDE’s administrators of artificial intelligence and innovation, Kunal Dalal and Wes Kriesel, for a closer look at how they support the incorporation of AI into teaching and learning.
- With a total solar eclipse making its way across North American skies come April 8, the OCDE Newsroom has gathered a few tips to safely view this rare celestial event.
- As part of the “College and Career Ready” series, OCDE Deputy Superintendent Dr. Ramon Miramontes heard from four OC Pathways student ambassadors in the arts, media and entertainment pathway about their learning and career opportunities.
- For the past seven years, OCDE Alternative Education teacher Tom Kostic has been inviting alumni to connect with new students to show them that graduation and success are attainable. Hear from Kostic and some of the program’s alums in the first installment of the “Voices of ACCESS” series, produced by OCDE’s Media Services team.
- Saddleback Valley Unified School District teacher Beverly Berekian recently boarded an exclusive Zero-G flight alongside eight other middle school teachers with her students’ science experiments in tow.
- As Earth Day approaches on April 22, OCDE’s Inside the Outdoors program plans to host a series of environmental education events that empower communities to help nurture and safeguard the planet.
- Four Orange County high school teams brought home more than 70 trophies and medals from the 45th annual California Academic Decathlon last month.
- The California Department of Social Services proposed a new plan that would provide a monthly stipend to families of foster care youth to fund participation in extracurricular activities.
- The Los Angeles Times reported that Laguna Beach High School is launching an investigation into the alleged creation and circulation of inappropriate images of students while prompting discussions on how to educate staff and students on artificial intelligence usage.
- If passed, a new Assembly bill called the High School Voter Registration Act would require that all California high school students are provided the opportunity and resources needed to pre-register to vote by the time they finish the 11th grade.
- Data from the California Department of Education shows that half of all California high school seniors graduated with transcripts that would qualify them to apply to a four-year state university, with Orange County surpassing the state at 57 percent, according to the Orange County Register.
- The California State Board of Education is now accepting applications for student board member positions for the 2025-26 school year.
- San Francisco will offer affordable housing to educators and employees in the San Francisco Unified School District, with applications to rent or buy opening earlier this week.
This is the part where we encourage you to keep up with local education news stories by bookmarking the OCDE Newsroom, subscribing for emailed updates and following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.