Howard County, MD – February 17, 2016 – Out of 3,379 competing teams, three teams of high school students from the Applications and Research Laboratory in Ellicott City, MD recently concluded an exceptional round of competition in the eighth season of CyberPatriot – the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition. Established by the Air Force Association, the CyberPatriot National Youth Cyber Education Program was created to excite, educate, and motivate students toward careers in cyber security and other science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines critical to our nation’s future. CyberPatriot’s core program – the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition – challenges teams of two to six students across the United States, Canada, and from DoDD schools abroad, to find and resolve cybersecurity vulnerabilities in simulated environments. Top teams from the preliminary online rounds win an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. for the live National Finals Competition, where students compete for national recognition and scholarships. The CyberPatriot field is divided into three divisions – the Open Division for public, private, and home school teams, the All Service Division for JROTC, Civil Air Patrol, and Naval Sea Cadet Corps teams, and the Middle School Division. Based on the results of two preliminary rounds, CyberPatriot VIII high school teams were categorized within their divisions as Platinum, Gold, or Silver Tier teams, with Platinum Tier teams representing the highest scoring teams. Led by Coaches Stacey Purdum and Brian Taylor, the teams consisting of Howard County students from Atholton, Centennial, Hammond, Howard, Long Reach, Mount Hebron, River Hill, Reservoir, and Wilde Lake High School excelled in the CyberPatriot VIII State Round held January 29-31, demonstrating teamwork, critical thinking skills, and technical knowledge key to a successful career in cybersecurity. The teams performances earned them spots in the Platinum and Silver Tiers Regional Round to be held February 19-21, 2016. “We are excited to see the cybersecurity networking academy grow. This is only our second year of competing. This year we have higher participation and advancement with two teams on track for nationals and we’re already gearing up for Cyber Patriot IX.” – Stacey Purdum, PC Systems Teacher

Following the Regional Round February 19-21, top teams in the Open and All Service Divisions’ Platinum Tier and the top three Middle School Division teams nationally will advance to the CyberPatriot VIII Finals Competition in Washington, D.C. More information is available at www.uscyberpatriot.org or from the CyberPatriot staff at info@uscyberpatriot.org. #### 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. Media Contact: Lyndsey Akers Lakers@afa.org (703) 247-5847