It’s 9:45 AM on a perfectly normal day at Mass Academy. Students huddle in groups around laptops in the library, write on the whiteboard, and chatter excitedly. The commotion seems to be focused on the CS classroom – clearly, something is going on today. What if we told you this wasn’t a school day after all, but a chilly Sunday morning? This isn’t just any Sunday, however. This is the day of the CyberPatriot competition.

But first, what is CyberPatriot, anyway? To appeal to Mass Academy’s unique student population, we have a variety of unique extracurriculars, CyberPatriot being a particularly fascinating example. It can be best described as a cybersecurity competition where students are provided with simulated computers that are compromised with security flaws. They must work in teams of five to find and eliminate as many issues as possible within a four-hour timespan. CyberPatriot requires commitment outside of the normal times for an extracurricular, but it is a very rewarding experience for those who are willing to put in the effort. But what is the real impact of CyberPatriot? Well, in addition to giving students a chance to learn new things about computers and cybersecurity, it is a welcoming environment and promotes lasting bonds among the teams.

There’s a place for everyone to learn something in CyberPatriot. In a recent survey of CyberPatriot competitors, 100% of the juniors who responded had never done CyberPatriot before. Participants came into the competition with a diverse range of abilities; their self-assessments ranged from no cybersecurity background to significant prior experience in the field. However, most participants – including those with a strong background – said that CyberPatriot gave them a chance to improve their cybersecurity skills. Rishit Avadhuta says he “[took] this opportunity to dive into Linux and learn it as an operating system through CyberPatriot.” This gave him a chance to learn how to use features such as the terminal, a text-based way of interacting with a computer, and PAM files, which control the inner workings of the password system on a Linux computer. He reflects, “Linux is a very practical tool, but it's built for an extremely small subset of people.… [It is] really hard for newbies to get into Linux, and I only see it getting harder.” This thoughtful reflection was developed after several rounds of competition, which showcases both the dedication CyberPatriot competitors have for their craft and the value of the competition in providing a hands-on way to sample different cybersecurity and computer-related topics.

      What were participants’ favorite parts of the competition? Many of the juniors expressed that working together with their team was one of the best things about CyberPatriot. Because there was such a diverse range of abilities within the competitor pool, teams naturally included members with different strengths and areas for growth. Within the teams, members were able to collaborate and help each other to find the weaknesses in the given scenario. Students were able to learn from each other as well as teach their peers about their own areas of specialty. CyberPatriot was also a welcome opportunity for students to collaborate with peers outside of their typical classes. Competitors not only fostered skills in topics such as strong password policies and backdoors, but they also created friendships that lasted throughout the school year. In the competition room, there was an air of camaraderie that lasted throughout lunch, as participants reluctantly stepped away from their computers to chat about their progress over pizza. Yes, you read that right – another favorite tradition in CyberPatriot is ordering pizza halfway through the competition, since there is no official break for lunch.

      Recently, Mass Academy was very excited to see Team Blue receive the 1st Place State Award in Massachusetts on the State round and advance to the semifinals! Juniors Rishit Avadhuta, Medhansh Choudhury, Harshil Hari, Niranjan Nair, and Jotham Sserwadda demonstrated great persistence and skill in achieving this recognition. To do this, they had to learn all they could about topics such as Packet Tracer (a software that can model physical and virtual systems), Linux distros (including Ubuntu and Mint), lesser-known Windows policies, and more! We are all very proud of their accomplishments.

      If you didn’t sign up this year, but you’re interested in joining CyberPatriot for the 2025-2026 competition season, feel free to contact Mrs. Taricco at ataricco@wpi.edu or show up for an introductory meeting next year – it’s not too late! And to all of the Mass Academy CyberPatriot competitors, congratulations on a great season!