The Missouri Research and Education Network (MOREnet) has partnered with DESE to host the fourth annual Missouri High School Cybersecurity Challenge. Thanks to funding earmarked to extend Computer Science Standards through the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, any school district in the state could enter the competition at no charge. This year, 50 teams entered the competition from 22 school districts around the state.
After the first round, in which teams competed virtually through a series of online challenges over the course of three days, the top scoring teams were selected.
The 2023 winning team was from Springfield and consisted of Tyler Abernathy and Caden Haustein. It was their third time competing in the challenge and their first time taking home to top spot.
Lee’s Summit students Thomas Kahler, Jacob Klipfel and Arthur Schieszer came in second, and Willow Springs students Drake Marshell, Gabriel Story and Ryan Tibbitts came in third.
“It was an exciting first experience in the Cybersecurity Challenge for the teams from Fort Zumwalt,” said coach Jeremy Rapp. “Our students are already talking about strategies to help them be more prepared for next year’s competition. Thank you to MOREnet for putting on an engaging real world application to things we learn in our curriculum. We will see you next year!”
The following teams competed in the event:
| School | Team name | Coach |
| Willow Springs | Rouge AP | Adrew Coursen |
| Mexico | Dragonfyre | Craig Knight |
| Fort Zumwalt | Cyber Sentinels | David Biesenthal |
| Fort Zumwalt | Variable-X | Jeremy Rapp |
| Eldon | ECC2 | Joel Wilson |
| McDonald Co | Mustangs 2 | Joyce Pacheco |
| Lee’s Summit | 15-1430 | Lisa Oyler |
| Lee’s Summit | Su Doers | Lisa Oyler |
| Wentzville | Manchester United | Quentin Lee |
| Wentzville | Syber Simon | Quentin Lee |
| Springfield | 417 I’m a Teapot | Scott Neeman |
| Springfield | CyberPoo2 | Scott Neeman |
Why MOREnet Does This
“It is reported that there will be more than 3.5 million unfilled jobs in cybersecurity by next year. We felt that collaborating to expose Missouri students to cybersecurity through game-like exercises could spark interest and potentially have them explore a career in the cybersecurity field,” noted Natasha Angell, MOREnet executive director. “Many of the students who participated only had a base knowledge of coding or cybersecurity. Through trial and error, many of them learned techniques bad actors could use to gain access to sensitive information. With this knowledge, they can now work toward keeping networks and valuable personal information safe.”
About CYBER.org
CYBER.ORG is a cybersecurity workforce development organization that targets K-12 students with cyber career awareness, curricular resources, and teacher professional development. The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) supports CYBER.ORG through a grant from CISA to develop and distribute cybersecurity education content to educators across the country at no cost. Currently, more than 27,000 teachers across all 50 states and three U.S. territories are enrolled in the CYBER.ORG content platform. For more information, please visit http://www.CYBER.ORG.