Academy Girls Selected for National Championship Round of #GirlsGoCyberStart

Girls from Sacred Hearts Academy have discovered their hidden talent for cybersecurity this year with an exciting Governor backed program, Girls Go CyberStart, designed to bridge the cybersecurity skills gap in the US. During the program, girls across the country competed in a series of digital games and challenges to see if they have what it takes to make it in the cybersecurity industry.

Over ten thousand girls across 27 states took part in the first stage of the program, CyberStart Assess. At the end of that round, 6,600 girls performed so highly that they received invitations to take part in the second round, CyberStart Game.

Running until June 28, CyberStart Game pits teams against a series of increasingly difficult cybersecurity challenges to win points for their school.

For the first month of CyberStart Game, girls applied their cyber skills to accumulate points, vying to be one the schools invited to the third and final stage. Last week Sacred Hearts Academy girls found out their score qualified them for The National Championship for Girls Go CyberStart 2019. Here 120 school teams, each comprised of 4 girls, are set to compete in a national online ‘Capture the Flag’ competition, which runs June 5 – June 7.

The top-scoring teams in this final round, both nationally and per state, will win cash prizes for students and their schools. An additional ten high school juniors and /or seniors from Hawaii with high scoring CyberStart Game scores will also be awarded $500 each in college scholarships.

“We’re so proud of the 50 girls who have worked so hard to get through to this stage. We always knew Sacred Hearts Academy had the talent to shine and these girls are proving that to the whole country.” -Deborah Kula, Sacred Hearts Academy

“I think GirlsGoCyberStart is a really great opportunity for girls to be exposed to aspects of cybersecurity with challenges that can be applied in the real world.” -Ayana Arnobit, '19, Team Captain

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CyberPatriots Place in State Rounds, Advance To Semi-Finals!

Results are in! After a grueling CPXI State Round, where teams were tasked with securing 3 computer images (Windows 10, Windows Server 2016, and Ubuntu 14), taking a Cisco Networking Challenge quiz, and a Packet Tracer exercise requiring completing a computer network.

The Sacred Hearts Academy CyberBeans placed 3^rd in Hawaii in the Platinum Tier and the CyberLlamas placed 4^th in Hawaii in the Gold Tier! Both CyberLancer teams advance to the Semi-Finals Round where the challenges will increase in intensity once again!  Also advancing to the Semi-Finals Round will be Cyber team H2A – our middle school team! Congratulations to all!  

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Girls Go Draws Many Academy Cyber Security Enthusiasts

#SacredHeartsAcademy Cyber Lancers

When the command came to “go” at 4 a.m. on February 20, the Academy’s aspiring computer “techies” were “off and running” in the inaugural #GirlsGoCyberStart challenge!

The 15 teams of Lancers in grades nine to 12 joined over 5,700 other students from across the nation on this week-long cyber “quest.” Their goal was to tackle fun and interactive online challenges as “cyber protection agents” tasked with protecting an important operation base.

In the process, participants explored the exciting worlds of code-cracking, cyber security tools, security flaw detection, digital forensics and more. While all of the Academy’s cyber protection agents displayed superb security skills, two teams – the CyberBeans and Yikes the CyberGhosts – scored in the top 100 in the nation out of 2,355 teams and were sixth and seventh among Hawai’i competitors.

To assist the Lancer effort, Deborah Kula hosted a week-long “Cyberthon” in her classroom after school hours. She set a theme for each day and provided added motivation in keeping with this theme, including “cyber-ghetti sauce with password pasta” on “Exploits Wednesday” and “malware marshmallows” and “vanilla virus ice cream” on “Spyware Friday.”

#SacredHeartsAcademy Cyber Lancers

Kula remarked, “Many participants in this program came from the Cyberpatriot teams, but many had no prior experience. This is a testament to all of our students being encouraged to take risks!"

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Triskadekaphobians Don't Stand A Chance Against Academy Cyber Security Teams

Hackers and digital thieves and triskadekaphobians don’t stand a chance this Friday the 13th! The Academy's Cyber Security teams are vigilant and cautious!

This weekend, the Academy's four cyber security teams will be competing in the State Round of the CyberPatriot Competition among a total of sixty-five teams from Hawaii and four thousand four hundred and four teams across the country. This phase of the  competition is extremely intense – and the results will determine who goes on to the Regional Round in February.

Our teams have been working hard with their mentors from the NSA and the Air Force Cyber Command and are definitely feeling up for the challenge.

Students will have 6 hours this weekend to secure THREE computer systems (Windows 8.1, Windows 10, and Ubuntu 14), perform digital forensics, and also demonstrate their networking knowledge through a Cisco quiz and Packet Tracer lab.

We wish the ladies best of luck!

The CyberLancers: Sydney Chock, Christina Chen, Shailyn Wilson, Janelle Lauronal, Leeona Domingo

The CyberBeans: Laura Farias, Monica Kenny, Aiyana Arnobit, Stella Supall, Jalen Tam

Team404: Megan Backus, Raelynn Chu, Neicy-Mae Fujiwara, Carlee Matsunaga, Taryn Wong, Samantha Ishihara

The CyberLambs: Stephanie Desroches, Brianna Ho, Jasmine Matsumoto, Meghan Matsuoka, Kaitlyn Pang

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Academy CyberPatriots Rank Platinum, Gold & Silver

Way to go Sacred Hearts Academy CyberPatriot teams: Team404, CyberLancers, CyberBeans and CyberLambs!

Round 2 scores are in! Team404 and the CyberLancers placed in the Platinum Tier, CyberBeans were the top ranking Hawaii team in the Gold Tier (barely missing a platinum designation), and the CyberLambs were the top ranking Hawaii team in the Silver Tier!

All 4 teams will compete in the State Round over the Jan. 13-15 weekend. The top 3 teams in each tier within the state advance to the Regional Round. Best of luck ladies! Congratulations! 

#GoLancers #SacredHeartsAcademy #CyberPatriots #SHALancersLately #SHAKaLeo

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Coding Marathon with UH Association for Computing Machinery

Friday night, April 1, was no night for fools!  Eight Academy students from the Intro to Computer Science class and the CyberPatriot teams gathered at the POST (Pacific Ocean Science and Technology) building to join students from the UH ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) in their outreach activity:  a Coding Marathon.

Thank you to the UH ACM student members who served as mentors for the event:  Evelyn Pirnia, Tor Nielsen, Clay Nakamura, Kalani Sanidad, and John Moroney (not in the photo).  Academy participants were sophomores Ashley Acoba, Catlynn Nguyen, Julia Oehlers, juniors Christina Chen, Leeona Domingo, Carlee Matsunaga, Taryn Wong, and senior Weiyi Huang joined Mrs. Kula for hours of "command line" instruction, the basics of Git usage, and Java programming and compiling on Cloud9, and lots of inspiration from UH students who are passionate about the work they are doing.

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C is for Coding and Computer Savvy

The Academy’s students not only use technology daily, but are learning to create technology in their coding classes. These classes are empowering, rewarding and just plain fun!          

The coding curriculum begins in the first grade and continues through High School. Along the way, students fine-tune their programming fundamentals skills, tackle web and mobile development and design and delve into robotics. The first graders practice their coding skills with their “minibots” – Dash and Dot, programming them to move around, play music and more.
 

Those in middle school program animations and create video games. In the High School, the coders use industry-standard programs and understand the role technology has in shaping the world. With society’s every-increasing reliance on technology, it is imperative that the Academy’s students develop the skills essential for future success.

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Don't Hack Me! Mini-Series by the Sacred Hearts Academy Digital Engineering Class

The Sacred Hearts Academy Digital Engineering class will present a series of mini-presentations on Cyber Ethics/Safety/Security and Computer Programming during the months of March and April during the second half of lunch in the Conference Room.

Each mini seminar/episode will cover a specific  topic such as: Computer Ethics and Safety, Coding, Passwords, Anti-Virus/Ubuntu, Firewalls/Updates, Service, and Ports & Protocols.  All sessions are scheduled to start at 1:00PM in the Conference Room. 

For each episode attended, participants earn a chance at an awesome digital door prize (drawing to be held at the conclusion of the series).

Monday, March 23rd: Episode 1 - Computer Ethics and Safety 

• What is ethical behavior on a computer?  
• Why is it important?  
• How do you keep yourself and your information safe when you are online?

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Chloe Huang wins Cyber Hui Logo Design Contest

Cyber Hui is a community of Hawaii cyber security professionals dedicated to sharing skills and knowledge with high school and college students.  Their mission is to “Inspire Hawaii’s youth to be the next generation cyber security professionals.”

Cyber Hui recently sponsored a logo design contest, seeking a design to represent Cyber Hui while incorporating components of Cyber Security, Hui, and Hawaii.

Sacred Hearts Academy junior, Weiyi Chloe Huang’s winning logo design will be used to promote Cyber Hui on their website, social media sites and presentations. Mike Herr, co-founder of Cyber Hui joined Tuesday's Flag Ceremony to announce that Chloe's design was the winning design and presented her with the $200 Amazon gift card prize.

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Sacred Hearts Academy CyberPatriot Team Advances to Gold Tier Regional Round

Established by the Air Force Association, the CyberPatriot National Youth Cyber Education Program was created to excite, educate, and motivate students toward careers in cyber security and other science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines critical to our nation’s future.

Led by Coach Deborah Kula, the team of students from Sacred Hearts Academy excelled in the CyberPatriot VII State Round held December 5-7, demonstrating teamwork, critical thinking skills, and technical knowledge key to a successful career in cybersecurity. The team’s performance earned it a spot in the Gold Tier Regional Round to be held January 16-18, 2015. 

Coach Kula says, “The CyberPatriot experience has been awesome for our students.  The opportunity to work with mentors active in the cyber security workforce has broadened their horizons.  The training and resources provided by the Air Force Association and program sponsors are invaluable and assist students in building real world and vitally needed skills for today and the future.”

Following the Regional/Category Round and Middle School Division Semifinals Round January 16-18, top teams in the Open and All Service Divisions’ Platinum Tier and the top three Middle School Division teams nationally will advance to the CyberPatriot VII Finals Competition in Washington, D.C.

In all, 2,175 teams registered to compete in CyberPatriot VII, including 35 teams from Hawaii.

CyberPatriot’s core program – the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition – challenges teams of two to six students across the United States, Canada, and from DoDD schools abroad, to find and resolve cybersecurity vulnerabilities in simulated environments. Top teams from the preliminary online rounds win an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. for the live National Finals Competition, where students compete for national recognition and scholarships.

The CyberPatriot field is divided into three divisions – the Open Division for public, private, and home school teams, the All Service Division for JROTC, Civil Air Patrol, and Naval Sea Cadet Corps teams, and the Middle School Division. Based on the results of two preliminary rounds, CyberPatriot VII high school teams were categorized within their divisions as Platinum, Gold, or Silver Tier teams, with Platinum Tier teams representing the highest scoring teams.

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Both CyberLancer Teams Progress to Gold Tier Competition

Friday's Team
Leeyannah Santos, Angelyn Tabalba, Kristen Tumacder, and Mary Kay Zhang

**1/15/15 CyberLancers Update: Our CyberLancers team will be hard at work on Saturday morning. The 6-hour Regional Round will keep them busy diagnosing and securing a Windows 8.1 machine, a Windows 2008 Server, an Ubuntu 12 machine, working a Cisco networking quiz, and building and being quizzed on networks through Packet Tracer. ** 

The CyberPatriot competition was conceived by the Air Force Association to inspire high school students toward careers in cybersecurity or other STEM fields. Practice rounds and qualification rounds ran from October through November, nationally. 

Both of our CyberLancer teams have made it to the Gold Tier of competition for the State. The State Round is a 6 hour competition with 3 computer images and a networking

Sunday's Team
Stephanie Chun, Chloe Huang, Janelle Inao, and Gaby Kim

quiz. The State Rounds will be held this week. Due to scheduling conflicts, the CyberLancers-Gold team must compete between 10:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, December 5th. Team members are Leeyannah Santos, Angelyn Tabalba, Kristen Tumacder, and Mary Kay Zhang. Our second team will be competing on Sunday, December 7, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Team members are Stephanie Chun, Chloe Huang, Janelle Inao, and Gaby Kim.

The teams have worked very hard to progress to this level. Let's support them through this weekend's State Rounds! 

For more information about the CyberPatriot Competition, visit their website: https://www.uscyberpatriot.org/competition/Competition-Overview/how-the-competition-works/. 

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