Both Civil Air Patrol cadet teams reaching this year’s CyberPatriot 17 finals are making return trips to the youth cyber education program competition’s national stage, with the New Jersey Wing’s Raritan Valley Composite Squadron mounting a third attempt and the Virginia Wing’s Burke Composite Squadron a second try at capturing the All Service Division overall crown.
Two of the Burke cadets will be making return visits when the team competes March 14-18 in Bethesda. Maryland. The Raritan Valley team members are all first-time competitors.
The Raritan Valley team consists of:
Cadet Maj. Alex Swider
Cadet 1st lt. Brielle DuBois
Cadet 2nd Lt. Mohnish Devarajulu
Cadet Chief Master Sgt. Sukesh Tank
Cadet Master Sgt. Rishabh Kannan
Cadet Tech. Sgt. Sharanya Devarajulu
Team coach is 1st Lt. Giri Sonty, with Capt. Carol Faaland-Kronmaier serving as team mentor.
This marks the third straight national finals appearance for the Raritan Valley squadron.
The Burke Composite Squadron team members are:
Cadet Maj. Ronald Zhang
Cadet 2nd Lt. Taiyo Lloyd
Cadet 2nd Lt. Brisha Uprety
Cadet Chief Master Sgt. Cora Newman
Cadet Senior Airman Levi Newman
Caroline Ren is the team’s coach, assisted by Capt. Sara Demyanovich, adviser, and Tech. Sgt. Maj. Jonathan Groff, mentor.
CyberPatriot, administered by the Air & Space Forces Association as the nation’s largest cyber defense competition, is designed to stimulate high school and middle school students’ interest in cybersecurity or other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines.
CyberPatriot places 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.
With 368 entries, CAP accounted for 26.2% of the 1,406 All Service teams, just behind the 376 from Navy Junior ROTC. The Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Space Force Junior ROTCs are also represented, as is the Naval Sea Cadet Corps.
The Open Division consisted of 2,890 high school teams, while 754 teams competed in the Middle School Division.
Over the years CAP teams have placed:
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.
