From October 2021 to April 2022, hundreds of Indiana students participated in CyberStart America, an interactive, national competition to help high school students understand the many advantages that come with a career in cybersecurity.

The competition involves an easy-to-follow platform that allows them to learn technology security basics through a series of gamified competitions.

Indiana clinched a Top 10 spot among all states that participated in this year’s competition with more than 700 students from 84 schools across the state who participated. While 105 Hoosier players qualified to apply for National Cyber Scholarship Foundation scholarships, ultimately 51 Hoosier students ended the game with scholarships to continue their education in cybersecurity. Indiana also moved into the number 10 spot nationally in 2022 after placing 11th in last year’s competition.

Cybersecurity continues to be an in-demand skill, and the need for trained industry professionals is not slowing down for the foreseeable future, which makes the need to find these future professionals so necessary. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the rate of growth for jobs in cybersecurity are expected to grow by 33 percent by 2030, much faster than the average. With so many jobs available, and the need to fill them so dire, more K-12 schools are offering lessons, classes, and degrees in cybersecurity.

This year's top-performing schools and their scholars were:

Noblesville High School (4 scholars, 1 remained anonymous)

• Ellie Hohmann, Trace Downs, Aj Einterz

Carmel High School (3 scholars)

• Oren Jensen, Alex Anderson, Irene Liang

Hamilton Southeastern High School (3 scholars)

• Sandilya Kambhampati, Aryadeep Buddha, Anish Kambhampati

The state of Indiana congratulates this year's winners and looks forward to all their future successes. For more information about CyberStart America, visit: www.cyberstartamerica.org and if you’d like, you can register and sign up to receive updates as to when the next CyberStart America intake is open for registration.