CyberPatriot will compete in the national finals competition, which will take place from March 17 to 21 in Bethesda, Md. According to David Racovan, CyberPatriot leader and junior, this is the first year the school has qualified for the national competition. The organization only invites 12 teams out of the 2,890 total teams in the open division to the competition.

“I think it’s the first Indiana team that’s ever gone to nationals in the open division,” he said. “Our goals are to represent Carmel well at nationals, rank high amongst the other teams that go, and meet new people there.”

To prepare for the competition, Racovan said the team is adjusting to the different formatting of the national competition.

Racovan said, “The competition is very different at nationals than in the remote rounds. There’s a shortened time period to two and a half hours (compared to the previous six hours). We are going to combine all of our materials together into binders because we’re only allowed paper content in the national finals.”

CyberPatriot sponsor Carey Anderson said she is proud of the members for their hard work and excited for nationals.

She said, “We’re very excited (to compete at nationals)—over the top excited. We are a Midwest school and we’re going against a lot of the Silicon Valley (known as a hub for technology) schools, so it’s awesome that we can (go against them) and that we are (going against them).”