While most students enjoyed food and music at the Homecoming Tailgate, the Black Falcons spent four hours competing in a virtual cybersecurity competition on Friday, Oct. 20. Despite some complications with the competition software, the club fared well: Three of its four teams scored in the top 10 North Carolina teams, and the fourth scored in the top 20.

The club focuses on electronic information security and protecting personal data online. Members study competition materials and the club splits them into four teams based on their respective skill level to test and build their knowledge through the use of competitions.

Prospective club members must undergo a selection process to join the team. Black Falcons vice president Katie Biddle (‘25) explained this process. “Team members are accepted into the club through a three step process including an application, interview and technical challenge,” she said. The club began accepting applications at the end of the preceding school year to ensure members can study for competition over the summer.

The club mainly participates in the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition hosted by CyberPatriot, an organization created by the Air & Space Forces Association to encourage kids to pursue career paths in cybersecurity.

Biddle described what competition looks like. “Each team has six members, two of which share a specialty in Windows, Ubuntu/Debian or networking/packet tracer, and they all compete together in the CyberPatriot competition,” she said. “Each pair focuses on their respective competition challenge, which can range from a virtual machine containing scored vulnerabilities to completing a multiple choice test. We are able to see and compare parts of our scores on a live scoreboard, which can also add to the competitiveness.”

In an interview with the GH Falcon, Green Hope programming teacher and club organizer Mr. Christopher Gaw credited the club’s board for the successful completion of the round. “The president and vice president Brendan Swanson (‘24) and Katie Biddle are the ones that are driving the train in as much as what needs to be done to who needs to be trained to what our specialties are. They made sure the practice round was functioning correctly and made sure that the information was available for the kids to study,” he said.

Reflecting on the competition, Biddle expressed that the club still had room for improvement. She said, “I think the teams could perhaps do a better job communicating amongst themselves, although that was not a major issue. But we could unfortunately get penalized due to miscommunication in the future, such as by running competitions on multiple laptops or going over the four hour time limit, and we do not want these issues to occur when the scores become cumulative.”

In addition to competing, the Black Falcons are also involved in the community. Each year, the club participates in Toys for Tots, a toy drive that occurs in December. Mr. Gaw also plans to reach out to new nonprofits for the 2023-24 school year. “I want to get involved with Kramden or Dorcas and spend some more time with the community,” he said. Kramden Institute donates technology to students in need, while Dorcas Ministries provides food and financial assistance to low-income families.

As they continue to compete, the Black Falcons hope to “remain number one in the state out of the 50 teams in North Carolina.”