TORRINGTON – During the 2018 legislative session, lawmakers passed Senate File 29 – a bill that requires “adding computer science and computational thinking to the state educational program” by the 2022-23 school year. 

While this gives educators across Wyoming a few years to prepare for the change, students at Torrington High School already have an edge.

In February, two teams at THS earned top-10 placings in the inaugural Girls Go CyberStart challenge.

In an informational PowerPoint presentation, Wyoming’s Chief Information Security Officer Arlen Fletcher said the challenge was presented by System Administration and Network Security, an organization established in 1989 and considered the world leader in training cyber security professionals.

SANS recognized a large gap in current cyber security positions compared to the number of available applicants for those jobs. This realization prompted SANS to pilot “CyberStart” in 2017, as “an effort to identify talented young people with the mindset and analytical skills necessary to pursue a career in cyber security.” Seven states participated in the online challenge, and more than 3,400 individuals – however, males outnumbered females 20 to 1.

As a result, in 2018, SANS launched Girls Go CyberStart. Wyoming was one of 16 states participating in the all-female challenge, designed to assess female students – enrolled in public or private schools – who might have an aptitude for cyber security.

From Feb. 20 at 9 a.m. to Feb. 25 at 11:59 p.m., the first 10,000 teams who entered, each consisting of one to four girls attending the same school, played games in an attempt to solve as many challenges as possible. Game topics ranged from cryptography and web attacks to forensics, programming and Linux software operating systems.

The “Junior Girls Blazers” received fifth place, and “Freshman Blazer Girls” came in ninth out of 34 teams across the state.

Sandra Vanatta, a member of the junior team, enjoyed the challenge.

“I really liked it. It was a lot of fun, challenging, and we got to learn a whole bunch, which is cool,” she said.

“You really had to think out of the box, some of the problems weren’t something you would think of right away,” teammate Emi Glass explained. “In one challenge you had to highlight the page to look for hidden code … but once you got into the groove, it was pretty fun.”

Maryssa Lira was the third junior team member and not available for an interview Wednesday morning.

The freshman students seemed to agree the event was both enjoyable and, at times, frustrating.

“It was fun. It was kind of hard – some of the things didn’t give you enough instruction,” Morgan Bates said. “I like that we got to be a team and work together for it – if I had a question, I could ask one of (my teammates), and they could help me.”

“I liked when you had a really wacky problem,” Anna Liggett added. “For a lot of the problems, there were things we’ve never seen before. And we’re trying to solve puzzles … and when you did, it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I did it.’”

Kameron Stitt said she had never encrypted codes before, but appreciated working with problems unfamiliar to her.

“I liked it a lot – it was cool to be introduced to something we’ve never seen before,” she said. “I got to experience the inside and out of what I possibly could do (in this career field).”

“I liked it, but it was frustrating when we couldn’t figure out a puzzle,” Sera Glass said. “It was really satisfying when we could figure it out on our own.” 

Glass said a particular game that stuck out to her involved figuring out the last user of a website using cookies.

Patti Kelly, THS Gifted and Talented liason, acted as the local advisor for Girls Go CyberStart, and said she plans to encourage more students to participate in future challenges.

“I am very proud of how these girls attacked this for their first time without knowing what to expect,” Kelly said. “They just dove into it and had fun. In the beginning, I told them it is not so much of the challenge, but to see if you have a knack for the logic end of it and what you can learn. In addition, it might be something you may want to pursue as a career.”

The Goshen County School District No. 1 tech department supplied computers for the challenge, as some games required specific downloads. Prizes included individual state prizes and scholarship money. Top teams have the opportunity to travel to Chicago for the Women in Cyber Security Conference.

THS staff and students integrate computer science into the curriculum using a variety of methods, including participating in the Hour of Code and using robotics as teaching tools.

Matt Cross, student teacher at THS, previously worked for three years with aerial and ground robotics for the Department of Defense at Camp Guernsey, in addition to other roles in the computer science field.

In January, students began using a robotics kit to learn how to manipulate and change code (programming) in order to make the machine perform specific tasks.

“We’re just doing some introduction to the code, seeing how minor tweaks can affect how the robot behaves,” Cross said. “It’s a chance for hands-on learning, so students can see how what were teaching them in class is actually used.”

As with the Girls Go CyberStart challenge, Cross said the experience is designed to spark an interest in students who may pursue computer science as a career.

“It gives the kids a chance to see if this is something they want to pursue later on, and even if they don’t, it gives them a behind-the-scenes look at (the technology) they use on a daily basis.”