Joining ROTC his sophomore year, Landon Buscher, senior, didn’t imagine it would offer an opportunity to grow his interest in cybersecurity.

But, now in his senior year, he is competing in CyberPatriot, a cyber defense activity, through ROTC. After many other ROTC members expressed interest in the competition, Buscher created the cybersecurity club. 

“I was looking for different ways that we could get involved and practice skills and then actually apply those skills to real competition,” Buscher said. 

The CyberPatriot competition involves securing virtual operating systems by identifying and fixing issues.

The four-hour virtual competitions are available for teams to complete within a short time period, and Buscher said their team is broken down into three areas: Networking, Linux and Windows. Windows and Linux are operating systems that applications run on. Networking connects computing pieces to communicate information. 

The team placed first in the silver tier from their State competition in December. They advanced to the national semifinals and competed on Saturday, Jan. 25. 

Buscher said they have benefited from the help of Steve Baker, who has cybersecurity job experience and previously mentored Lafayette High School’s CyberPatriot team. 

“He explains how to apply it to the CyberPatriot competition and also how we can kind of apply it more broadly,” Buscher said. 

Senior Keerthana Thallam, co-captain with Buscher, said Baker has helped them by providing more guidance than they gain from online resources provided by CyberPatriot. 

Thallam said she was surprised when the semifinals results came out, but she was excited and values the experience. 

Thallam is in the Cybersecurity Club and said it was just a space of discussion before they began CyberPatriot. 

“Here we can figure out how and where we can apply all this information,” Thallam said.

Baker, who has his Masters in cybersecurity from Maryville University, has been working at the Enterprise Consulting Group for the past 26 years.

Baker said he decided to coach CyberPatriot teams because he sees a need for skilled individuals to join the cybersecurity industry. 

“These are not just things you can pick up in a book. You actually need to get your hands on it,” Baker said.

Baker said he plans to take their learning a step further by introducing projects like creating cables, deconstructing computers and setting up their own networks. 

Major Terri Zuber, ROTC teacher, supported Buscher in forming the CyberPatriot team. 

“He was just so passionate, and so I was like, ‘I will get you the funding, I will get you what you need as far as resources if you find the support and the students,’” Major Zuber said. 

Major Zuber said ROTC courses are expected to offer a specific number and type of extracurricular opportunities, with one required category being a STEM program.

She saw CyberPatriot as an opportunity for the seniors like Buscher and Thallam to leave an impact after graduating.

“Our really primary purpose is helping to develop leaders, people who graduate from high school and with not just the hard skills, but more importantly, the soft skills,” Major Zuber said. 

Jonathan Li, freshman, joined the CyberPatriot team because of his interest in cybersecurity’s growing importance globally. 

He said he plans to continue competing, potentially for all four years.  

“It’s super exciting to know that you’ve done something meaningful and you have something that you can keep for the rest of your life,” Li said.