Team Maroon took first place in the State round of the CyberPatriot competition for the State of New Jersey, among 48 competing teams. RBR’s other team, White, took second place state honors. They will both go on to compete in the Regional round in mid-January. Pictured (left to right) are: Kyle Neary (sophomore, Shrewsbury), Josh Even (senior, Shrewsbury), Tyler Birn (senior, Red Bank), Louis DiOrio (senior, Union Beach) , Bobby Villaluz (being held up, sophomore,Shrewsbury) and Mark Eulner (senior, Shrewsbury).
Little Silver: Two teams of Red Bank Regional (RBR) Academy of Information Technology (AOIT) recently finished first and second in New Jersey in the state round of the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition. Both teams now go on to compete in the regional round of the competition which takes place on January 16- 18.
In all, 2,175 teams registered to compete in Cyber Patriot with 48 teams from New Jersey.
Team Maroon, the first place winner, was comprised of: Kyle Neary (sophomore, Shrewsbury), Josh Even (senior, Shrewsbury), Tyler Birn (senior, Red Bank), Louis DiOrio (senior, Union Beach), Bobby Villaluz (sophomore, Shrewsbury) and Mark Eulner (senior, Shrewsbury). Team White, the second place winner, was comprised of: Cris Sochacki (senior, Union Beach), Andrew Noglows (junior, Little Silver), Zach Carrano (senior, Little Silver); Thomas Smith (senior, Shrewsbury) and Ryan Terpak (senior, Union Beach and. Derek Arnheiter (senior, Little Silver).
Led by Coach Mandy Galante and Assistant Coach Jeremy Milonas, the two teams of RBR students excelled in the CyberPatriot VII State Round which was held December 5-7, demonstrating teamwork, critical thinking skills and technical knowledge key to a successful career in cybersecurity.
Taking second place in the States’ round of Cyber Patriots was Team White composed of (and pictured left to right), (front row) – Cris Sochacki (senior, Union Beach), Andrew Noglows (junior, Little Silver), Zach Carrano (senior, Little Silver); (back row) Thomas Smith (senior, Shrewsbury) and Ryan Terpak (senior, Union Beach); missing from the picture is Derek Arnheiter (senior, Little Silver). Team White, along with first place finishing RBR Team Maroon, will go on to compete in the Regional round of the CyberPatriot competition in mid-January.
“We had an incredibly strong roster of students coming out for CyberPatriot this year, some veterans and some rookies,” said Mandy Galante, RBR CyberPatriot coach, adding, “These State awards are the result of long practice hours spent building a broad skill set in networking and cybersecurity. The next step is to hone these skills to fight for the top Regional awards. But no matter what happens at Regionals, many of the team members are interested in cybersecurity careers and this competition has given them a chance to prove that they have what it takes to succeed in this growing and vital field.”
For the past eight years, RBR’s Academy of Information Technology has run a premier, award-winning and highly recognized cyber security course of study for its students. It is one of only three schools with such a program in the state of New Jersey. Year after year, students from all over Monmouth County enroll in the AOIT to train in a career in IT; many find an allure and talent to succeed in the vital cyber security field. In October, RBR student teams competed in the national Pico CTF challenge sponsored by Carnegie Mellon University. Four RBR Cyber teams scored in the top 15% of the over 3,100 team competing nationwide.
With the advent of the most recent devastating attack on Sony Pictures, a major American corporation, the need for talented students seeking cyber security career path becomes immensely more important. The National Cyber Patriot Competition was created to foster such interest in American youth to study and train in the cyber security field. Many RBR AOIT students have gone on to study cyber security in college. The first cohort of these students is now graduating and has found a highly successful entry into the growing cyber security field.