Cyberpatriot, a national cybersecurity competition, is separate from the Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) program, but available to any interested P-TECH students. The P-TECH program focuses primarily on the study of computer hardware and software. The Cyberpatriot competition challenges participants to apply the skills they learn in P-TECH to real-world scenarios. In preparation, students practice for an hour and a half after school during the week leading up to each event, using virtual machines—software-based emulations of physical computers.

Competing with teams from around the United States and Canada, the four BISD teams of five students each must manage their time to effectively secure the computer within a four-hour window.

“Cyberpatriot taught me how to work together with people in a tight schedule, because you have a few hours with the competition,” sophomore Colin Williams said.

P-TECH skills could benefit competitors in future Cyberpatriot competitions. The P-TECH curriculum directly aligns with the events at Cyberpatriot competitions such as Linux, or Cisco Networking Academy, a class that allows students to learn how computers connect.

“I wish I had paid more attention to [Cisco Networking Academy] because that would help a lot,” sophomore Cyberpatriot competitor Kiera Olivarez said.

On a competition day, students use virtual machine software to run either Windows or Linux, in which students have to secure the computer by modifying the settings or installing security software. During some competition days, there is a competition for Cisco Packet Tracer, where participants have to connect various computers to each other and make sure it connects properly by running commands.

“You’re trying to figure out what is wrong with the system, or if you’re on like Cisco, trying to figure out how to make the connections work,” senior Cyberpatiot competitor Christopher Chavez said.

Students can tie the experience from Cyberpatriot to the real world by implementing the skills they learn in the competition, such as identifying and fixing cybersecurity vulnerabilities on their own devices. Furthermore, Cyberpatriot participation and experience is also a strong addition to college and career applications. 

“With the skills they learn, they can be able to apply them at the high school and college level,” computer science teacher Francisco Salazar said. “They can also put that in a resume saying they have experience in Cyberpatriot and that can be super handy.”