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BURKE, VA – Cadets from the Virginia Wing’s Burke Composite Squadron stunned the nation—and several unsuspecting routers—by placing second in this year’s Cisco NetAcad Challenge, part of the CyberPatriot 17 competition, also known as “Hackers, But Make It Legal.”

These tech-savvy teens out-clicked thousands in a virtual showdown of quizzes and digital puzzles inspired by Cisco Networking Academy materials, aka the only time “port forwarding” has been screamed in triumph.

Joining them in the All Service Division finals were their New Jersey rivals from the Raritan Valley Composite Squadron, competing in Bethesda for the third straight year because apparently, they live there now. The Burke team, only slightly less resident, made its second consecutive pilgrimage to the holy land of Ethernet cables.

Meet the Burke Byte Brigade:

  • Cadet Maj. Ronald “Root Access” Zhang
  • Cadet 2nd Lt. Taiyo “Ping Master” Lloyd
  • Cadet 2nd Lt. Brisha “Firewall” Uprety
  • Cadet Chief Master Sgt. Cora “DNS Slayer” Newman
  • Cadet Senior Airman Levi “Have You Tried Turning It Off and On?” Newman

Their coach, Caroline Ren, kept them hydrated and marginally sane, assisted by adviser Maj. Sara Demyanovich and mentor Tech. Sgt. Maj. Jonathan “The Real Hacker” Groff, who definitely didn’t do all the work. Definitely.

Zhang and Lloyd are seasoned veterans of last year’s team, presumably kept in cold storage between competitions to preserve their processing power.

CAP vs. The World

CAP cadets have historically been the overachievers of the cyber realm, placing first, second, or third in nearly every year since the floppy disk died. They even dominated the Middle School Division once, proving that preteens can, in fact, outwit adults in cybersecurity and Roblox.

This year’s competition saw:

  • 1,390 All Service Division teams
  • 2,890 Open Division teams
  • 754 Middle School Division teams
    …and about 45,000 collective hours of yelling “WHY ISN’T THE ROUTER BLINKING?”

The Cyber Future is Teenaged

CyberPatriot continues to prepare students for careers in cybersecurity, STEM, or just being the one family member who knows how to fix the printer. With Civil Air Patrol contributing 356 of this year’s All Service entries, they remain second only to Air Force JROTC—who may or may not be spying on them through compromised printers.

While Burke didn’t take home the top spot, they did secure lifetime bragging rights, a few Cisco-themed nightmares, and probably enough technical knowledge to overthrow a small government (but they won’t, because Honor, Service, and Not Getting Grounded).

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