Media Advisory

What: Winners of the 2019 California Cyber Innovation Challenge will be honored from 1 to 3 p.m. Aug. 19 in the California State Capitol in Sacramento. Five teams of high school students will be recognized with resolutions on the state Assembly floor by Assembly Member Jacqui Irwin and on the floor of the Senate by Senate Majority Leader Bob Hertzberg. Irwin represents the 44th Assembly District in Ventura and Los Angeles counties; Hertzberg represents the 18th Senate District in the San Fernando Valley.

When: 1 to 3 p.m. Monday, Aug. 19.

Where: Room 437 of the California State Capitol, 10th and L Streets, Sacramento, CA 95814.

More information: For the third year in a row, Cal Poly hosted the California Cyber Innovation Challenge (CCIC) from June 21-23. This year, hundreds of schools competed in regional qualifying rounds, and only 26 teams made it to the championship. The statewide cybersecurity competition aims to deepen students’ interest in the growing field of cybersecurity.

The winning schools and teams to be honored are:

Division 1

First place: North Hollywood High School (Mendenhall team)

Second place: Troy High School, in Fullerton, California

Third place: Granada Hills Charter High School, in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Granada Hills

Division 2

First place: Del Norte High School, in San Diego

Second place: TriValley, a group of schools based in Dublin and Pleasanton in the Bay Area (Coder Dojo team)

A team of middle school students from Achieve Charter School of Paradise, California, will also be honored Monday. The students participated in the challenge for the first time, less than a year after the Camp Fire destroyed more than 18,800 structures in Butte County, including the students’ homes and school.

“They already know that they really enjoy technology,” said team coach Jorge Rojas, a middle school history teacher at Achieve Charter. “Now they can understand that they can actually do a lot with it if they want to pursue it as a career.” 

During the challenge, students collected and analyzed a combination of digital and physical evidence from live-immersive environments representing the real-world scenario of a medical-themed cyber plot. Many of the cyber coaches and students who participated in the CCIC 2019 said the immersive environment differentiates the CCIC from the traditional format of cyber capture-the-flag competitions. Student teams were also required to present their findings to a panel of judges, which helps them develop their communication skills.

The CCIC impacts students across all demographics and has quadrupled in size over the last four years. The CCIC 2019 drew over 140 junior high and high school students from 21 different schools across the state, from Paradise to San Diego.