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CWHDS Computer Technology In The Media
CWHDS Computer Technology In The Media
CWDHS graduates in 2022 earned 20 Focus on Information Technology certificates as a result of their digital skills development throughout their high school journey. Specializations ranged from Interactive Media & software development related to our award winning game development program through cybersecurity (as a part of CyberTitan) to ICT (we just won our 6th consecutive Skills Ontario medal in IT & Networking!). This nationally recognized program offers students an opportunity to show post-secondary and workplaces that they have advanced digital skills - a vital ability for any student graduating into 21st Century workplace expectations.
UGDSB students take home gold at Skills Canada Nationals 2022
https://www.ugdsb.ca/blog/ugdsb-students-take-home-gold-at-skills-canada-nationals-2022/
Post Mortem fought an epic battle in remote competition at the 2022 CyberTitan National finals, managing CWDHS's 3rd successive top 5 finish nationally (2020, 21 & 22). Working remotely from our student DIY'ed lab at school, our neuro-diverse co-ed team put in a brilliant performance up against students from specialist STEM schools from across the country, missing out on a medal by only a few points.
Morpheus is the second-generation of our ground-breaking all-female team. All juniors and all new to the competition, they quickly picked up the thread and produced stronger results round over round in CyberPatriot before getting tapped as the TOP FEMALE WILDCARD TEAM in Canada and getting an invite to the 2022 CyberTitan National Student Cybersecurity Competition finals.
This team scores the hattrick, becoming our third top-female wildcard team in four years. Though they finished last at nationals, the team gained valuable experience for future competition as they will all have multiple chances to get back there again.
That 11th place doesn't show how close it was with the team just missing a top 10 finish by only a slim margin of points. While many of the senior team are graduating next year, Morpheus will be back!
Landon, Mark & Matteo have moved us beyond our early golds in IT & Networking. This year CWDHS computer technology are provincial champions in both 3d Animation and Coding!
CWDHS has the TOP 3D ANIMATION students in Ontario! Landon & Mark, students from our Game Development class, worked together on RIGGED in the fall and formed a team of 2 to take our first run at 3d Animation in Skills Ontario Provincial finals, and won the GOLD MEDAL! They now preparing for Skills Canada Nationals on TEAM ONTARIO!
Matteo, our senior CyberTitan quarterback and last year's silver medalist in Skills Ontario provincials did one better this year and won the top spot, making him the top coder in Ontario with a gold medal! Coding isn't a national competition (why?) but Matteo's busy preparing for CyberTitan Nationals in May in any case.
Max returned in his graduating year for another go at Geographic Information Systems, this time with new partner (and CyberTitan teammate) Kohan. They fought a tough battle against more competitors this year to win our second GIS medal! Kohan is going to continue the tradition next year.
Wyatt took bronze last year in IT & Network admin, and kept his string alive this year with another bronze medal. That means CWDHS has won a medal (top 3 in the province) in IT at Skills Ontario every year since 2016! 2016: gold, '17:bronze, '18:gold, '19:bronze, 20:cancelled, '21:bronze, '22:bronze!
Following an intense semi-final round of the 2021/2022 international CyberPatriot Student Cybersecurity Competition, CW was contacted by ICTC (the Information & Communication Council of Canada) to let us know that, for the 5th consecutive year, we will be returning to the CyberTitan Canadian Student Cybersecurity Competition National Finals. Due to COVID these finals will once again be online and will take place in May, 2022. See this story on UGDSB news for more details: https://www.ugdsb.ca/blog/cwdhs-teams-to-return-to-cybertitan-nationals-may/
Senior team, Post Mortem, finished top 10 in Canada and Team Morpheus won Top-all-female Wildcard Team! This makes CW 7x national cybersecurity finalists in the past 5 years.
As more schools join and existing schools apply greater resources to CyberTitan: Canada's Student Cybersecurity Competition, it gets more and more difficult to battle your way to a top 10 finish in order to attend the national finals, but this year's senior team, Post Mortem, has managed a top 10 finish yet again! The last semi-final round of CyberPatriot is on Jan 21st. Will Ontario's now-remote schooling end our run or will we overcome the odds and fight our way back to a 5th consecutive national finals?
The Space Marines became the first junior team in CW history to rank in the top 30% of all teams in the CyberPatriot competition and got to tackle some very challenging platinum level cybersecurity challenges in the State Round on December 10th.
They didn't make the top 30% in this round and their season is now complete, but things are looking bright for next year's senior team as we continue to develop new talent!
The majority of our national award winning first-in-Canada all-female CyberTitan team graduated last year and our one remaining member joined Post Mortem. With a completely new crew, Morpheus tackled this year's CyberPatriot competition, rapidly improving round over round.
They finished top 10 in Canada in the gold tier and went on to a top 25% finish in the tier overall, allowing them to continue on to the semi-finals in January (assuming they happen).
Mr Greig, CW's new computer technology teacher, took on the challenge of coaching his first CyberPatriot team with this group. Congratulations to Morpheus and Coach Greig for an outstanding (and ongoing!) rookie season! The future is looking bright for girls in cyber at CWDHS.
CENTRE WELLINGTON – Louise Turner, a student at Centre Wellington District High School (CWDHS), has received a Schulich Leader Scholarship. Billed as “Canada’s most coveted scholarship,” the program gives students $80,000 to $100,000 to use toward their post-secondary education. Schulich Leader Scholarships are Canada’s most prestigious STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) scholarships.
https://www.wellingtonadvertiser.com/cwdhs-student-awarded-schulich-leader-scholarship/
Pushing to create public awareness on the importance of cyber security education, Centre Wellington District High School (CWDHS) computer tech teacher Tim King has been shortlisted for a Cyber Security Award in the category of Cyber Security Influencer of the Year.
The Cyber Security Awards, established in 2014, reward the best individuals, teams and companies within the cyber security industry.
https://www.wellingtonadvertiser.com/cwdhs-teacher-shortlisted-for-cyber-security-award/
FalconTech Plagueware battled against the top schools from across Canada in the CyberTitan National Student Cybersecurity Competition National Finals on Monday, May 17th, 2021. They finished 4th overall and clinched the Defender Award, an award handed out by the judges for the team that demonstrated the best teamwork and innovation in the competition.
Terabytches3.0 is the third iteration of CW's all-female CyberTitan student cybersecurity team. This year they clinched the top female wildcard spot for the second time in three years and went on to a hard fought 10th place in Canada out of over 130 teams at this year's national finals!
Plagueware consists of team captain Tessa R, already one of the top Cisco networking students in Canada in grade 10, Wesley M, last year's award winning coop student coach of Altron, Nick R, member of last year's 5th place Kingsguard team, Matteo P, this year's Skills Ontario coding silver medalist, Max K., this year's Skills Ontario GIS bronze medalist, and Kohan W, our first ever grade 9 to get a perfect score in Windows 10 during CyberPatriot competition. They are battling it out with the top schools in Canada at this year's national finals.
The Everyday Hero award: The criteria for the annual awards are: performance at a high level at all times, a significant school or system-related achievement, a specific innovation or achievement of significant value or importance to the system, or a unique circumstance worthy of recognition by the board.
Mr King won the award this year for his work promoting equitable pathways into computer technology for his students.
In 2018 our team of four beat half the teams of six for a top 5 finish in Fredericton, NB!
In 2019 our Terabytches all-girls team won top female team in Canada!
In 2020 King's Guard, our first team of returning veteran CyberTitans, finished 5th in Canada!
This year Plagueware, our coed, female captained senior team, won their way through with a top 4 score in the Eastern Conference!
Meanwhile, the Terabytches3.0 have won the top female team wildcard for the second time in three years!
This year's double team win makes CWDHS 5 times national finalists in the past 4 years.
We've had a number of students complete CompTIA industry certifications in information technology (most notably Shane MacDonald), but Louise is our first student to earn the Cisco Networking Academy IT Essentials certification.
Louise completed the course and passed her final exams, exceeding the expectations required for qualification while working in her ICT SHSM coop course in our department.
Congratulations Louise!
This award honours girls who are already exceptional in their field of study and encourages them to pursue pathways in computer technology. Louise, our CyberTitan team captain, first Cisco IT certified student and award winning coop student is a winner of this year's regional award!
This award honours girls who are already exceptional in their field of study and encourages them to pursue pathways in computer technology. Emily is a founding member of our Terabytches multi-award winning CyberTitan team and a Skills Ontario provincial finalist in robotics and control systems!
This award identifies exemplary formal and informal educators who play a pivotal role in encouraging 9th-12th grade students who self-identify as women, genderqueer, or non-binary to explore their interest in computing and technology.
Our computer engineering program is an Information & Communications Technology Specialist High Skills Major Program. Our students benefit from extra training and support, including ICT focused COOP experiences.
We are also an ICTC Digital Youth Focus on IT program. Our graduates are awarded nationally recognized certificates for specialized, industry recognized training.
We have been a Cisco Networking Academy since 2018. Our juniors explore IT Essentials and networking while our seniors are the only high school students in Ontario with access to Cyber Operations training!
CWDHS has been a CompTIA Academy since 2015, training students in industry certified qualifications like CompTIA's A+ IT Technician and Network+ certifications.
The CWDHS Computer Technology Department has been competing in digital technology related competitions since 2013. We are 4 times provincial Skills Ontario medalists in IT & Networking with two provincial championships, and have won numerous regional competitions and top ten provincial awards. We have competed in the CyberTitan National Student Cybersecurity Competition since 2018 and have been a top 10 national finalist every year since it began, twice in 2021. We are also the first school east of Winnipeg to compete in the Canadian Cyber Defence Challenge and have competed seasonally for three years in Ryerson's CanHack competition as well as ECOO programming contests.
Hone your skills as a digital artist working with the latest in 3d digital modelling, learn how to code C# in UNITY to create cutting edge 3d games, some even in VIRTUAL REALITY! Create a portfolio of work that will take you into otherwise inaccessible, high demand post-secondary programs where your experience will give you a head start! Graduates of our program have made game development companies (VULCRON GAMES) and many have gone on to successful careers in the multi-billion dollar game industry.
2018 National Finalists in ICTC's CyberTitan National Student Cybersecurity Competition. 5th in Canada in 2018.
2019 top female team in Canada and National Finalists in Ottawa.
One of only 2 East Division platinum level teams in 2019. Top 10 Gold tier team in world rankings (out of over 6000 teams in a dozen countries).
13x regional champions & provincial finalists in IT & Networking, electronics, web development & coding. 2016 provincial gold medalists in IT & Networking, 2017 provincial bronze medalists in IT & Networking, 2018 provincial champions in IT & networking. Bronze medalists in 2019. Top 10 provincial finalists in electronics, web development & coding. Top 5 in IT in Canada two out of the past four years.
CW offers a full stream of computer engineering courses that allow students to specialize in Information & Communication Technology, electronics engineering or software engineering. We have graduates who are electronics engineers at Tesla, computer technicians and engineers in companies all over the world and game developers and digital artists working across the industry. We support our school with IT repair and build VR ready systems for schools across our board!
Quentin W: regional champion thwarted by COVID on his way to our third provincial gold medal in 4 years
Arvid K: regional champion in electronics aiming for a medal at provincials before COVID stepped in.
Rachel R: regional champion in web development aiming for a provincial medal before COVID stepped in.
Evan M & Emily Y: regional champions in our first go at Robotics & Control Systems aiming for a provincial medal before COVID stepped in.
Wesley M: returning for his second crack at regionals and aiming for a provincial top ten finish before COVID stepped in.
Kat & Zach: a former provincial medalist in 2d animation along with one of our most gifted 3d artists. This dream team was aiming for a national medal before COVID stepped in.
Tessa & Max: took on our first run at GIS which became our first interdepartmental collaborative Skills team with the geography department. They were regional champs on their way to provincials before COVID stepped in.
We have great success at Skills Ontario, but 2020 was going to be our strongest year yet, until COVID. We'll be back, but it's tough when we all pour so much extra time and effort into an extracurricular to see it dissolve in a pandemic. 2020 has been a tough year.
DJ Macari, our highest ever finish in #WEBDEV!
Erika Tollett is off to Ryerson to become an engineer!
The mighty Q is back next year for another crack at it!
Our first foray into Skills back in '14 thanks to the unflappable Nick Offer.
Charles won regionals and went on to a top 10 finish at provincials. He now works in IT In Ireland. He gave us the details that led to...
The mighty Zach Ternan! Top technical score in Ontario, our highest ever Skills Canada Nationals finish (4th). He now works in IT after continuing on in ICT at Mohawk College.
Erika first took on Skills way back in 2016 when she was in grade 9! She has managed top 10 finishes ever since and is going on to Ryerson for electronics engineering.
Calum's first kick at it in 2017.
Calum returned to claim our second provincial gold in three years in 2018.
Mason led us into web development in 2017 and 2018.
Gold! Our first IT & Networking medal back in 2016. Thanks to Zach's groundwork we've had medals in Skills IT for the past 4 years.
We discovered CyberTitan through ICTC back in 2017 and I talked my seniors into giving it a go. Round after round improved as we came to understand the contest. We were surprised to learn we'd finished second in the Eastern Division and were invited to the first ever National CyberTitan Student Cyber Security Finals in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Up against teams of 6 and with multiple hardware failures, our mighty 4 ended up beating half of the top teams in the country for a 5th place finish.
Their success created a surge of interest in the school and led to a much expanded year two...
2019: With 3 teams and 18 students, all three exceeded our first year scores and two finished top 10 in Canada. The Terabytches were top female team in Canada and went on to a 9th place finish at Nationals in Ottawa.
Cybersecurity is a desperately under-served field in Canada and around the world. CW grads have an opportunity to explore and engage with this high-demand, high-reward industry while still in high school!
Looking for more details and information on our Computer Technology/Engineering program at Centre Wellington District High School? Here you go:
Course breakdown of senior TEJ computer engineering courses on differentiation and individual focus
Eric's flying baby devil
Student built 3d-model
3d Structure.io scan
Zach G. digital brilliance
Zach B's CyberTitan 3d model
Kat's cat
Zach G's brilliant running Freddie Falcon
Ben's creepy robot model
For five years we have been producing student designed, managed and built Unity 3d-games using Blender to create our own models. Many of our grads have developed portfolio in this program that led to entrance into difficult to access post secondary programs like Sheridan's Game Design.
Check out previous student work at: Slimecing, Knockback Knights & Nuclear Fist/Spookbox Games