0128 COMM From left, Courtney Beals, Lihini Ranaweera, Veronica Pimenova and Vivian Palmer made up the female cybersecurity team from the Seneca Valley School District that won third place in a national cyber defense competition.

L-R Courtney Beals, Lihini Ranaweera, Veronica Pimenova and Vivian Palmer.>

Female cybersecurity team wins award

JACKSON TWP - Cybersecurity is an ongoing concern in the world today, but not for four young women at Seneca Valley.

Seneca Valley's first-ever Women in Engineering CyberPatriot Team won the third place, silver tier award during the CyberPatriot National Youth Cyber Defense Competition. As part of the competition, students were challenged to find and fix cybersecurity vulnerabilities in virtual operating systems.

Seneca Valley’s team, which was formed by senior Veronica Pimenova, includes seniors Courtney Beals and Vivian Palmer, and sophomore Lihini Ranaweera. CyberPatriot is the National Youth Cyber Education Program created by the Air Force Association to inspire K-12 students toward careers in cybersecurity or other science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines critical to the nation's future.