​​Five Grade 8 students from Bliss Carman Middle School will be heading to Ottawa May 13-16 to compete in a national cybersecurity competition as Cyber Titans.

The students make up the only middle school team in Canada to compete at the national level. They are Jayden Doucet, Liam Murphy, Ahmed Menesi, Peter Terhune and Emadedin Elmontaser. 

The  technology all stars were paid a special visit by Education and Early Childhood Minister Dominic Cardy who congratulated them for their achievement and wished them luck at the nationals. The Grade 8 students will be competing against nine high schools from across the country including two high schools from New Brunswick.

Teacher Scott Parks said the talented team began training months ago and entered the competition in September 2018. The competition is organized by the Information and Communication Technology Council (ICTC), and scored by the US organization:  Cyber Patriot. Each competition round takes place during the school day and students are required to solve as many computer security issues as possible during a four to six consecutive hour time frame. The competition rounds take place over a period of months.

"They have an interest and want to learn more," Parks said of the Grade 8 team. "They work together to solve the problems of a flawed security system. It's amazing to see how well they have done in such a short time."

Parks said cybersecurity is a growing, in-demand field and there will be ever increasing opportunities for students who are skilled and have the aptitude and expertise to succeed. 

"This experience (as Cyber Titans) will have exposed them to learning opportunities for a future career path," Parks explained.

Bliss Carman Middle School had three teams in the latest competition and all earned a respectable rank among their peers across the country.

Shown in the photo below are (1) (left to right) Bliss Carman Middle School students Ahmed Menesi, Peter Terhune, Liam Murphy, and Emadedin Elmontaser with Education and Early Childhood Minister Dominic Cardy, far left, and teacher Scott Parks, far right; (2) all members of the team together in the computer lab (left to right) Liam Murphy, Emadedin Elmontaser, Ahmed Menesi, Peter Terhune and Jayden Doucet.