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Nature Coast students place at University of Alabama capture-the-flag cybersecurity event
Summary
Students from Nature Coast Technical High School finished first and placed in the top 31 at a University of Alabama capture-the-flag competition; staff said the experience supports growing local cybersecurity education and workforce pathways.
Beth Lastra, the district staff member who introduced the Nature Coast Applied Information Technology program, brought teacher Tina Viera to the board to report that Nature Coast students placed at a University of Alabama capture-the-flag cybersecurity competition in February.
Viera said the event included more than 83 teams and 271 individual competitors from 14 states; Nature Coast entered two teams. One team — made up of mostly underclassmen with a senior who will graduate this year — finished first with just over 18,000 points, Viera said. One student, Alexander Grudis, scored just over 8,000 points and was the second-highest individual scorer across competitors, she said. A freshman team that had little prior competition experience finished 308th, which Viera described as notable given their limited practice time.
Viera told the board the competition is part of a broader effort to expand applied information technology and cybersecurity coursework at Nature Coast; she described capture-the-flag events as practical, hands-on practice that helps prepare students for larger regional competitions and for cybersecurity workforce pathways. She thanked the Hernando County Education Foundation and district staff who supported travel and participation.
The board acknowledged the students on the dais and observed that the placements signal growing student interest and the district's investment in career- and technical-education pathways.
