4th Annual California Mayors Cyber Cup 2022 Introduces Students and Community to Cyber Careers
On Tuesday, April 26, the City of Temecula honored the high school students of Great Oak Cybersecurity Team 32, from Great Oak High School, who won the 4th annual 2022 California Mayors Cyber Cup – Inland Empire/Desert region. At the Temecula City Council meeting, students from the winning team presented the Mayors Cup to Temecula Mayor Matt Rahn. The Mayors Cup will remain at Temecula City Hall until next year’s competition.
“We want to wish them continued success, they clearly have promising careers ahead of them in keeping us all safe from cybersecurity threats,” Mayor Rahn said.
The California Mayors Cyber Cup, which concluded on Saturday, March 12 this year, is an annual event bringing together nearly 250 students from middle schools, high schools, and colleges across the region to compete in a single-day event. This year’s California Mayors Cyber Cup was held virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A record 45 teams participated in the Cyber Cup, including 27 high school teams, 12 middle school teams, and 6 college-level teams.
The California Mayors Cyber Cup brings awareness to cybersecurity careers and provides students an opportunity to engage in team-based learning. The event was sponsored by the Inland Empire Desert Regional Consortia via the Strong Workforce Program. It was hosted by Industry Sector Manager, Susanne Mata – ICT & Digital Media Sector, and organized by SynED, a national non-profit organization that identifies emerging best practices for effective articulation between employers, job seekers, and education providers.
The Mayors Cup, given to the top high school team, was awarded to the Great Oak Cybersecurity Team 32, from Great Oak High School, under the guidance of Coach Christian Meglio, in Temecula, CA. Medals were awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place for middle school, high school, and college students.
A perpetual college trophy, which is kept on the campus of the winning team until the next competition, was awarded to the 1st place RCC Cyber Tigers from Riverside City College, with Coach Skip Berry guiding the team. The college trophy won’t be changing hands – Riverside City College supplied the winning team in last year’s Cyber Cup. The 1st place team among middle schools was the Cyber Knights 2, with Coach Becky Baez, from Landmark Middle School in Moreno Valley, CA.
After the competition Dr. Yxstian Gutierrez, Mayor of Moreno Valley, congratulated the students, saying, “On behalf of the City Council and the entire Moreno Valley community, I want to offer my heartfelt congratulations to this year’s award winners. I would also like to congratulate everyone who worked so hard to prepare for this year’s competition, students and educators alike, who had the foresight to advocate for such a critical career.”
“This cyber cup was a rigorous 3-hour competition with topics such as, open-source intelligence log analysis cryptography, Linux and more,” Mayor Gutierrez added. “Make no mistake the students that participated have what it takes to be a leader in the future of cyber security.”
The competition “game” was hosted on the Cyber Skyline platform, the same platform that is used by the well-known National Cyber League (NCL).
The week preceding the Saturday competition featured daily virtual “Live@5” events with speakers from academia, businesses, the cybersecurity industry, the community, and State and local government joining student and parents. Up to 200 attendees each day listened to the speakers address the importance of cybersecurity careers and how students can begin their journey to exciting, well-paid careers using the region’s cybersecurity career technical education pathway.
This year, event organizers had Job Developers from local Community Colleges share resume ideas, and representatives from local businesses and municipal employers discussed what they look for in candidates for internships and full-time employees.
“This was our 4th year of the Inland Empire/Desert regional California Mayors Cyber Cup. The LIVE@5 event again was a week-long endeavor where we focused our attention of building awareness between the students and employers. Our Community College Job Developers did an outstanding job on bringing real, local employers that can and do hire our students, including the local municipalities like Murrieta and the County Public Health IT from San Bernardino. This was a clear ‘win’ for all involved,” shared Susanne Mata, Regional Director and Industry Sector Manager.
“As and ICT leader for the Moreno Valley Unified School District, we want to provide opportunities to all of our students to engage and grow. This year our participation numbers did just that – we had 248 participants that included eleven high schools, four middle schools and five colleges. We are extremely proud to work closely with Ms. Susanne Mata to build a pipeline of talent for the region,” said Ms. Latoysha Brown, Director of College and Career Readiness for Moreno Valley Unified School District.
Full list of California Mayors Cyber Cup (Inland Empire/Desert Region) 2022 Winners
Middle School
In 3rd Place with 570 points, VHMS-Cyber Wildcat Protectors from Vista Heights Middle School
In 2nd Place with 605 points, CyberKnights 3 from Landmark Middle School
In 1st Place with 795 points, CyberKnights 2 from Landmark Middle school
College
In 3rd Place with 1015 points, Team COD from College of the Desert
In 2nd Place with 1070 points, root@mvc:~$ from Moreno Valley College
In 1st Place with 1140 points, RCC Cyber Tigers from Riverside City College
High School
In 3rd Place with 1225 points, Team 1 from Temecula Valley High School
In 2nd Place with 1305 points, Team DogBytes from Oak Hills High School
In 1st Place and the recipient of the Mayors Cup with 1655 points, Great Oak Cybersecurity Team 32 from Great Oak High School
About the Inland Empire/Desert Regional Consortium
The Inland Empire/Desert Regional Consortium (IEDRC) serves as a regional framework to communicate, coordinate, collaborate, promote and plan career and technical education and workforce and economic development in the Inland Empire/Desert Region. The region includes nine community college districts comprised of 12 community colleges, two county offices of education, 56 public school districts, four regional occupational centers/programs, and more than 50 charter schools. Educators play a key role in economic vitality and prosperity by preparing residents for positions and careers that pay a living wage. The IEDRC partners are committed to working together to provide the region with workforce development programs that address real needs and contribute to economic prosperity.
