California, New Jersey, Virginia Wing Cadets Seek CyberPatriot Crown

The California Wing’s Fullerton Composite Squadron 56 is sending a cadet team to the CyberPatriot National Youth Cyber Defense Competition national finals for the fourth straight year and the sixth time in seven years, joined by entries from the New Jersey and Virginia wings.

The Raritan Valley Composite Squadron from New Jersey will be making a  second straight appearance on the national stage

The Virginia Wing’s Burke Composite Squadron's entry is a first-time finalist after scoring highest among the three CAP teams, followed by the Raritan Valley team. 

The Fullerton Composite Squadron cadets team returns to the finals as a wild card team after recording the highest score outside the top two performers in each of the six All Service Division categories — CAP,  Naval Sea Cadet Corps, and Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, and Navy Junior ROTC. 

The CyberPatriot XVI national finals are set for March 15-19 in Bethesda, Maryland.

CyberPatriot, administered by the Air and Space Forces Association, is intended to spur high school and middle school students’ interest in cybersecurity or other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines.

The  nation's largest cyber defense competition, CyberPatriot puts high school and middle school students in charge of securing virtual networks, challenging them to harden simulated computer systems and resolve real-life cybersecurity situations faced by industry professionals.

This year the All Service Division included 1,390 teams, with CAP accounting for 356 – 25.6% of the field, and just behind the 362 Air Force Junior ROTC entries.

Last year's Fullerton team placed  second in the in Cisco Network Academy Challenge.  The 2021 Fullerton team won the Cisco challenge and also finished third overall in the All Service Division.

Over the years CAP teams have finished:

• First three times — in 2011, 2012, and 2017.
   
• Second three times — in 2010, 2015, and 2020. 
   
• Third five times — in 2010, 2016, 2018, 2021, and 2022.

In addition, CAP cadets captured the inaugural Middle School Division crown in 2014.

The Burke Composite Squadron team consists of: 

• Cadet Capt. Ronald Zhang, team captain 
   
• Cadet 2nd Lt. Sullivan Mills, assistant captain 
   
• Cadet Senior Master Sgt. Taiyo Lloyd 
   
• Cadet Senior Airman Gabriel Che

Senior members Trent Mills and Caroline Ren are the team's coach and assistant coach, respectively. Technical mentor is Staff Sgt. Jonathan Groff.

The Raritan Valley Composite Squadron team members are:

• Cadet Majs. Carl Furtado and Amit Sail
   
• Cadet 2nd Lts. Tanishi Maiti, Manvith Malali, and Milan Patel
   
• Cadet Chief Master Sgt. Tiffany Tian

Furtado, Sail, and Tian were members of last year's entry.

Capt. Carol Faaland-Kronmaier is coach and mentor, with 1st Lt. Girish K. Mandhwan assisting.

Representing the Fullerton Composite Squadron 56 team are:

• Cadet Staff Sgts. Andrew Ong and Kara Wong
   
• Cadet Airman 1st Class Isaac Kim, team captain
   
• Cadet Airmen Chanhyeong Bae and Medha Kappagantun
   
• Cadet Airman Basic Paul Kim

Team captain Kim competed on last year's team.

Capt. Brian Wu is the team's coach, with 2nd Lt. Thomas Hoang serving as technical mentor.