ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 23, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Air Force Association’s (AFA) CyberPatriot program announced today that it has registered 5,584 teams for its tenth season of the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition, a 26 percent increase from the 2016-2017 competition year.
"The growth of the CyberPatriot program has been amazing to watch year after year," said Rachel Zimmerman, CyberPatriot's Director of Business Operations. "We're excited to reach even more students this year with the goal of drawing them to STEM education and careers."
Teams registered represent all 50 States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the U.S. Department of Defense schools in Europe and the Pacific, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Hungary, Spain, Guam and the United Arab Emirates.
“CyberPatriot continues to exceed expectations, with solid growth nationwide, especially in this year’s middle school division,” said Diane Miller, director, Global Cyber Education and Workforce Development Programs, Northrop Grumman. “CyberPatriot is inspiring youth, early-on, from a diversity of locations, educational experiences and backgrounds to get excited about academics and careers in this much-needed field. As the presenting sponsor, we are proud to partner with the AFA on this critical STEM initiative. CyberPatriot is truly answering a national imperative to build a diverse, highly-skilled cyber workforce to defend and protect our digital domain. We look forward to another amazing year!”
The CyberPatriot X season, which has already begun training and practice rounds for teams worldwide, will hold Round One of the competition on Nov. 3, 2017.
“We look forward to hosting a competitive and challenging season this year," said CyberPatriot Senior Director for Competition Operations, Frank Zabrowski.
CyberPatriot, the nation's largest and fastest growing youth cyber education program, is AFA's flagship STEM program dedicated to strengthening cyber skills among students. The program features the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition for high school and middle school students, AFA CyberCamps, and an Elementary School Cyber Education Initiative.
Supporters of CyberPatriot include the Northrop Grumman Foundation, CyberPatriot's Presenting Sponsor, as well as Cyber Diamond sponsors AT&T, Boeing, Cisco, Microsoft, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Cyber Gold sponsors Facebook, Riverside Research, Splunk, and Symantec; and Cyber Silver sponsors Air Force STEM, Air Force Reserve, American Military University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Leidos, Mastercard, and University of Maryland University College.
The Air Force Association is a non-profit, independent, professional military and aerospace education association. Our mission is to promote a dominant United States Air Force and a strong national defense, and to honor Airmen and our Air Force Heritage.
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