Lakota Cyber Academy Tops Thousands of Collegiate Teams Nationally

From awards to competition rankings to speaking engagements, Lakota’s Cyber Academy for developing young talent in the field of cybersecurity is once again drawing national attention this school year.

Most notably, both Lakota East and Lakota West programs were ranked No. 4 and No. 12, respectively, in the pool of 400-plus high school cyber programs ranked by the National Cyber League (NCL) Fall 2023 Power Rankings. Schools are ranked based on their top team performance, their top student's individual performance, and the aggregate individual performance of all their students in NCL’s national competitions, which challenge students to perform real-world cybersecurity tasks. Over the course of 48 hours, students participating in the fall competition had to work in several categories, including open source information, cryptography, network traffic analysis, forensic analysis and more.

Both schools’ rankings were elevated by their top team’s placement among the 600 total high school teams competing nationally. East’s top team earned the No. 8 spot and included Owen Chalfin, Ujwal Dahal, Delaney Renneker, Braden Scribner, Justin Thomas, Aiden Wheatley and Zach Zucker (pictured above). West’s top team placed No. 11 among high school teams and included Shane Kerby, Xudong Lei, Ethan Moran and Diego Negroe (pictured right). Impressively, both schools’ best performing teams also placed in the top two percent when up against the larger field of nearly 4,700 teams consisting of college- and professional-level competitors. A total of eight Lakota teams actually placed in the top 10 percent within this expanded field. 

Individually, Lakota East junior Braden Scribner earned 12th place for his performance against nearly 1,100 high school competitors (135th among all 8,000 individual competitors). This high achievement earned him a special challenge coin from the NCL.

Also representing Lakota on the national stage for his individual accomplishments was East senior Jeff Zhu. He was one of just six students recognized at the National Cyber Signing Day event during the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) K12 Cybersecurity Education Conference this December. This event celebrates high school students and recent graduates who have made their commitments to some of the state and country’s top schools and companies in their pursuit of a cybersecurity career. 

“I am super fortunate to have found [the Lakota Cyber Academy],” said Zhu, reflecting on the path that led him to his most recent achievement. “I really enjoy the mentors Lakota brings in and I like how the program has that real world learning aspect.”

Zhu largely credits the paid internship that he landed at Procter & Gamble this school year to his involvement in the INTERalliance of Greater Cincinnati, a non-profit designed to grow and retain IT talent within the region. He currently serves alongside about 40 other local high school students on the group’s leadership council and helps plan the annual TechOlympics event where he interviewed for the P&G position. 

Among the other experiences that impacted Zhu’s selection for National Signing Day is his participation and performance in national competitions like Cyber Patriot and NCL’s “Capture the Flag,” as well as an independent research study about quantum computing ethics that he completed last school year in partnership with a professor from the University of Michigan. He plans to study cybersecurity and/or computer science at the collegiate level. 

“Our students are incredibly talented and passionate and also have great interpersonal skills. They’re very special and just great at what they do,” said Lakota Cyber Academy teacher Moriah Walker, an 11-year teacher, who began teaching the Cyber I course last school year and now teaches both Cyber II and Cyber III. “Their accomplishments are especially impressive when you consider they are going up against college-level students and cybersecurity professionals and competing with the best of them.”

Last spring, Walker received the esteemed CYBER.ORG Educator Award. The award recognizes educators across the country who champion cybersecurity education and initiatives in the classroom. She is also a very active member of the second-ever cohort of the National Cyber Teachers Academy, a group committed to designing a common curriculum for the high school cybersecurity space.

Zhu and Walker also had the opportunity to present to cyber professionals all over the world at the NICE conference during a session on the Lakota Cyber Academy’s mentorship program. The session also included Lakota Director of 7-12 Curriculum Andrew Wheatley and Tonja Specht, Senior Vice President Information Security Governance and Program Management at Fifth Third Bank. Pictured right is Lakota Cyber I teacher Jenny Circella, Walker, Zhu and Wheatley at the NICE conference.

Lakota’s Cyber Academy is the largest high school cybersecurity program in the midwest. With over 240 students enrolled and 54 percent more female students than the year prior, current figures show significant progress toward the program’s goal to increase female representation. Since its inception in 2019, nearly 100 students have been the recipients of national cyber scholarships and about 70 graduates of the program have continued on to a college or university to major in cybersecurity. The curriculum is guided by a Cyber Advisory Board, which helps secure mentors and paid internships for all students. The program also boasts one of only two high school chapters nationally of Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS).