This is a guest post written by Lilah from New York. She became a National Cyber Scholar through CyberStart America.

“Whatever I do, I know the confidence and critical thinking skills I have gained from CyberStart will be a huge help.”

Lilah describes what cybersecurity skills she learned by playing CyberStart, and the other ways she is boosting her talents in the field.

What made you want to compete in CyberStart America?

In 2020, I was introduced to GirlsGo CyberStart and found the cybersecurity challenges exhilarating. Last year, I competed in CyberStart and really enjoyed this chance to increase my skills with gamified challenges. These fascinating enigmas drew me in and showed me how enjoyable cybersecurity could be. Additionally, the interesting and quirky backstory surrounding each level—whether bike thieves or alien contact—made me feel like I was a white-hat hacker in a mystery novel. I was very excited for the opportunity to participate in CyberStart again this year.

How did you feel about becoming a Scholar in the competition?

💡 “It has really helped me branch out, and it has demystified concepts that I had felt were beyond my reach.”

It feels really great to earn this recognition as a Scholar! I put a lot of effort into learning cybersecurity skills, from Linux SSH to editing HTML. Although external validation certainly isn’t everything, it is nice to know that, by an outside measure, I have indeed learned a lot. CyberStart has significantly increased my confidence with technology. Although I had coding experience in Java and Python prior to participating, it has really helped me branch out, and it has demystified concepts that I had felt were beyond my reach.

Overall, participating in CyberStart was a really amazing experience. The mental exercise and skills it provided was a great opportunity to explore a side of computer science that I had not previously considered. I am really grateful for this chance to explore fascinating and difficult puzzles.

💡 Learn more about CyberStart’s free programs in this blog.

Do you have plans to continue your cybersecurity studies?

Yes, I definitely plan to continue learning more about cybersecurity! CyberStart taught me that cybersecurity is a very fascinating field. I will participate in CyberStart again next year (my senior year!), and one of the colleges to which I am applying has a great cybersecurity honors program.

Currently, I am taking an online self-paced course in HTML to build a website for my robotics team, which I think will help me with web-based cybersecurity. I will also delve into some of the CyberStart techniques which fascinated me, but I did not have time to fully explore. In Scientific Computing class, I am currently learning cryptography in C++.

Outside of school, I started LI HackHers ( https://lihackhers.com ), to share my love of computer programming with younger girls and increase their skills and confidence in computer science. Recently, I ran a workshop teaching middle school girls how to encrypt and decrypt the Caesar and Vigenère ciphers in Python. I hope to run a workshop in the fall to introduce the girls to the CyberStart game.

I plan to major in computer science in college and will probably gain a lot of knowledge applicable to cybersecurity. This summer, I will be applying Python code to astrophysics research at the Summer Science Program.

Before participating in CyberStart America, were you considering a career in cybersecurity?

💡 “CyberStart showed me that cybersecurity could be fun and doable with dedication and interest.”

No, I had not really thought about this possibility before. Cybersecurity seemed like an elite skill straight out of a science fiction novel. I had never imagined that I would be good at or interested in it. However, CyberStart showed me that cybersecurity could be fun and doable with dedication and interest. This change in perspective was revelatory: hacking is a puzzle with endless secrets to discover. It became that sort of challenge that will keep me up until past midnight, typing away at my keyboard as I delve deeper and deeper into each exciting problem or riddle.

Since participating in CyberStart America, are you now considering a career in cybersecurity?

I am leaning towards computer science research for my career. Computer science is a flexible, dynamic field, and I could very well end up working in cybersecurity one day! Whatever I do, I know the confidence and critical thinking skills I have gained from CyberStart will be a huge help. CyberStart has shown me how valuable the ability to solve puzzles truly is in computer science.

Want to take learning into your own hands like Lilah? Play CyberStart’s Intern base to learn real skills through free cybersecurity challenges.