Narragansett’s Spinazzola Honored as Computing Champion

WARWICK – Having launched Rhode Island’s U.S. Cyber Challenge by forming a partnership with organizations in the state earlier this year, Congressman Jim Langevin (D-RI) commended students from Narragansett and Exeter West Greenwich Regional High Schools for winning the top three spots in the state in the Cyber Foundations competition.

Luca Spinazzola of Narragansett High School placed first, followed by Alex Fahlman and Brandon Barrette of Exeter West Greenwich Regional High School. With 91 competitors from 17 schools, Rhode Island had the third highest number of participants.

They will be recognized at an awards ceremony for all participants on May 19 at the New England Institute of Technology, where they, along with the top students from each school, will receive prizes.

“I want to thank all of the schools and students that took part in making Rhode Island’s inaugural cyber challenge a great success,” Langevin said. “Cyber skills should be a core fundamental of the science, technology, engineering and math fields, which are critical to improving innovation. By supporting initiatives like this competition, Rhode Island can take the lead in a field that is becoming in increasingly high demand. This effort will produce a more skilled workforce and creating jobs as we build a new industry for our state. I applaud Luca, Alex and Brandon for their phenomenal performance as part of a very talented field and look forward to congratulating them in person later this month.”

He added, “I would also like to thank the New England Institute of Technology, the Rhode Island Department of Education, the Rhode Island Science and Technology Advisory Council and Tech Collective for their integral roles in helping get this competition off the ground in Rhode Island. I would especially like to thank New England Tech for taking the lead in coordinating this program.”

The Cyber Foundations competition was conducted by the Center for Internet Security throughout March and April in 26 states with participation from 135 high schools and nearly 1,000 students.

The contest featured a series of timed quizzes to test aptitude in the three most important foundational skills of effective cyber security: networking, operating systems, and system administration. Students were provided with tutorials and training materials to review in each of the three subject areas and then participated in a series of increasingly challenging quizzes focused on those foundational skills.

Cyber Foundations is one of several initiatives underway through the U.S. Cyber Challenge, and is conducted through collaboration with the SANS Institute, which developed the curriculum and competition.

Awards

Top three students in each state:

1st place: $100 and a personalized trophy provided by SANS

2nd place: $75 and an engraved award provided by SANS

3rd place: $50 and an engraved award provided by SANS

Top student in each high school: an engraved award provided by SANS

A personalized certificate of achievement will be presented to those who were the top scoring student in a particular part of the competition, but who were not the top scoring student in their school.

About U.S. Cyber Challenge:

The U.S. Cyber Challenge (USCC) is a national coalition of public-private sector entities collaborating to enhance the workforce with the next generation of cyber security professionals through skill development activities, mentoring, and resources, and the facilitation of scholarship, internship and employment opportunities.

Release courtesy of Langevin’s director of communications. For more information on Luca, he and the rest of his family was profiled by sports reporter Evan Crawley . Bill Koch of The South County Independent had a good piece here on Luca committing to the University of Southern California.