The Marshalltown High School CyberDefense team placed second at the IT-Olympics held April 21 and 22 at Hilton Coliseum at Iowa State University. Pictured are, from left, team mentor Adam Kithcart, Tavis Reisdorf, Joe Gerads, Aaron Walker and Quinten Woolery.
The Marshalltown High School Hyperstream team competed at the IT-Olympics on April 21 and 22 in Hilton Coliseum at Iowa State University in Ames.
CyberDefense
In the capstone event – CyberDefense – the MHS team placed second and less than 2 points out of first place. This competition involved setting up a network of virtual computers so that one team of users could access and use the system, and the hacker team could not interfere with and shut down the system.
“Our group put in many hours outside of school to get their system up and running and worked under the guidance of our three mentors: Adam Kithcart, a networking specialist for General Dynamics in Des Moines, as well Mark Krukow and Josh Wesley of MCSD’s technology department,” said MHS Extended Learning Program teacher Susan Fritzell.
The MHS robotics team competed at the IT-Olynpics at Iowa State University. Pictured with their “funny robot,” from left, are Ronaldo Ordaz, Andy Bitker and Sam Estrada.
Robotics team
Also competing for MHS was the robotics team. Competing in the more competitive Gold Division, they made it to the semifinal round of the sumo-bot competition on Friday, losing only three of their 17 rounds. They earned a three-way tie for first on the second day for their “funny car” which had wheels made of oranges.
More than 60 high schools from across Iowa participated in the IT-Olympics. Funding for the Hyperstream team came from a Governor’s Scale-Up Grant and the group was sponsored by the MHS Extended Learning Program, facilitated by Mrs. Fritzell.
Teen Tech Help
In addition to preparing for this competition throughout the year, the Hyperstream team sponsored Teen Tech Help at the Marshalltown Public Library on Wednesday afternoons. For two hours each week team members volunteered their time to help Marshalltown citizens with phones, laptops and other technological devices.
