Cyber Patriot is an after school club at St. Pius V School that introduces students to cyber security in our increasingly technological world. As a Catholic school, we remember that we are in this world, but not of this world (John 17:11-16 and 1 John 2:15-16). And so, we do not reject technology but welcome it, with the caveat that we use it for the building up of the City of God.
Created by the Air & Space Forces Association, Cyber Patriot is part of the National Youth Cyber Education Program that introduces K-12 students to cybersecurity, in addition to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines for the betterment of the United States of America. Participating middle school students at St. Pius V School form teams of pretend IT professionals tasked with managing a small company’s network. These students partake in online competitive rounds with teams from other Rhode Island schools to find and repair cybersecurity vulnerabilities while preserving critical services for the fictional small companies. St. Pius V middle school students recently won first and second place in the 2022-2023 statewide competition. Go Firedogs!