Four Cybersecurity 3+1 program students from Rowan College at Burlington County (RCBC) took it upon themselves—with guidance from Instructor Bill Baig—to participate in a cybersecurity competition that is best known for testing and evaluating teams’ ability to react to and resolve real-time cyber attacks. The team, which placed in the top six and first among community colleges against teams from across the nation, are a mix of second- and third- year students: Jeordie Lipscomb, Roy Kramer, Faiz Ibrahim and Tavon Peterson Evans. These students utilize the education and skills they learned in the 3+1 program to come together and achieve greatness.

Considering their skills and pre-established community within the 3+1 program, it was a no-brainer for this close-knit group of cybersecurity majors to come together and compete in the “Cyberbit ICL CollegiateCup.” Initially, the road to success was a bumpy one. Each participant had multiple scheduling conflicts that threatened the team’s cohesiveness and the competition’s administrators’ communication seemed vague when everyone was not on the same page. Luckily, this team was able to use these setbacks as opportunities for growth. They organized themselves better, reflected on what they had learned in their academic program and within their various cybersecurity jobs and internships and managed to earn their way into a high rank in a national competition. 

When asked how the competition encouraged their academic growth, each member of the team had an insightful response:

Faiz Ibrahim said, “It’s really important to network cause you never know what opportunities might arise. It helped me see firsthand what it’s like to form a team and get everyone in the mindset.”

Roy Kramer said, “We were able to get hands-on experience and doing tournaments helps us gain an insight on how to actually perform the job. And, I think that it’s going to be valuable down the line.”

Jeordie Lipscomb said, “It gives us the ability to use more updated tools that we haven’t utilized before because we get the standard tools and in the tournaments,you get to play around with those new programs.”

Tavon Peterson Evans said, “Essentially, it was rewarding to use all the materials I learned in the classes and I can actually apply those skills.” 

Instructor Baig added, “To be ranked top six in the nation, that alone grants them bragging rights and even advantages on applications because they can put that on their resume.” His most significant advice to these students and to any others who seek to achieve what this team has accomplished is to “work hard in those classes and continue to practice, practice, practice.” 

Next year, the team members are confident that the first place award has their names on it and are excited to bring back that prestigious title to Rowan College at Burlington County.