SAN ANTONIO – A CyberPatriot team from San Antonio have advanced to the national finals of the CyberPatriot XI competition in Baltimore.
The team is made up of ROTC cadets and students who attend the Roosevelt High School Engineering and Technology Academy.
The North East Independent School District school has taken part in the competition for about 10 years.
"What they do every year is they provide the students with a set of operating systems, and those operating systems, they have vulnerabilities, they have viruses," said Josh Beck, an engineering and technology academy teacher. "As the students go through these operating systems, it's their job to fix, configure and secure those operating systems. And as they do that correctly, they receive points on a national scoreboard."
Junior Fardeen Bhimani, a member of the team, has been competing since he was in seventh grade.
"When you are using your computer at home, it's the surface. You are just playing games, going on the internet. Here, I'm exploring in-depth," Bhimani said. "I want to try Air Force Academy because they have a strong cybersecurity program."
Hannah Hughes, a senior, has competed for four years.
"Working with CyberPatriot allowed me to get an internship with H-E-B last summer, and that's a huge help when you are applying for colleges," said Hughes, who has the admissions letters to prove her point. "I've been accepted to Yale and UT Austin, great schools."
The students also learn the valuable lesson of teamwork.
"Especially listening to my teammates, because they know a lot, they know other stuff than me. So combine those together, we can definitely find more stuff like that," Bhimani said.
The competitions deal with problem-solving, communication, leadership skills and much more.
The finals are scheduled for April 7-11.