Code Club Wraps Up 2023 With Cyber Security Competition
14 December 2023
CyberCenturion is a national cyber education initiative for 12–18-year-olds, designed to excite, educate, and motivate students to pursue further education and careers in STEM and cybersecurity. This is the competition’s tenth year running, and the charity’s ninth year offering it to local students.
For CyberCenturion X, Code Club hosted two qualifying rounds for six teams of Manx students, across all-male, all-female, and mixed gender teams: both in the senior and junior divisions. The club’s longest serving team, ‘CyberAces’, for whom this is their last year before being too old to compete, once again outperformed the competition, finishing the second round with an overall score of 386 points out of a possible 400. ‘I am Root’, the club’s best performing junior team weren’t far behind, on a total of 346 points, placing these two teams in first and second in their respective categories.
Round 2 Participants. L-R:Front: ‘The BrotherBoard’ – Lenny Saunders, Freddie Lord, Ruadhan Milsom, Illiam Kneale, 2nd Row: ‘$udo’ – Tyler Sharples, Gabriel Todorov, Daniel Spitsyn, Kerron Stitt, 3rd Row: ‘The Cubes’ – Sam Cooke; ‘I am Root’ – Liam Carey, Brodie Millar, back: ‘CyberAces’ – Siddharth Shakthivel Muthu Pandian, Luka Warren, Arthur Owenson, Aaron Rielly
‘CyberAces’ (team CCX-0001) L-R: Siddharth Shakthivel Muthu Pandian, Arthur Owenson, Luka Warren, Aaron Rielly
Previously in 2023, the club has explored an array of new avenues, as well as revisiting events from years gone by. From hosting their first Awards Night to celebrate the work of last year’s CyberCenturion finalists, to once again collaborating with Love Tech on their Summer Open Day, Code Club has had a busy year.
‘I am Root’ (team CCX-0002) L-R: Liam Carey, Brodie Millar
This year has also had a robotics theme for the charity; after some years away, they relaunched weekly LEGO robotics classes in preparation for the World Robotics Olympiad and curated a robotics challenge for primary school students to take part in at Digital Isle of Man’s STEMFest event.
Finally, Code Club has taken a professional turn this year. In the midst of summer, the club branched out to launch Adult Code Club, an initiative aimed to share advanced learnings on technical topics to a mature audience. Last month, the club once again joined forces with Love Tech to host an engaging panel entitled ‘Empowering Tomorrow’s Innovators: Your Role in Supporting our Island’s Future in STEM’ at Digital IOM’s Digital Isle event.
Code Club’s CyberCenturion coordinator, Adam Drummond, shared his views on how this year has gone. “It has been a fantastic year for us at Code Club this year, both from a cyber point of view, where we won both the junior and senior trophies at the CyberCenturion IX finals, and from an innovation point of view, with the new events. Some of the challenges we’ve faced have been monumentally difficult, however I’m sure we’ll make it out the other side better than we’ve ever been. I’m beyond excited for 2024, the tenth year of Code Club!”
Long-standing member of CyberAces, Aaron Rielly, added his thoughts, following his last ever qualifying round. “I’ve loved taking part in CyberCenturion over the past several years. We’ve had ups and downs and have won three times so far gaining valuable knowledge in the field with experiences to last a lifetime. Hopefully next year we will win for the fourth time at the national finals!”
Owen Cutajar, Chair at Code Club closed. “We’re very thankful to everyone who has supported us this year”, he began. “Most recently to King William’s College who have hosted us since October, and to Domino’s and Computer Network Defence for providing food for our competitors this weekend. Next, to Digital Isle of Man, for supporting us with our trip to the national finals earlier in the year, and to the Family Library for enabling us to progress our robotics efforts, both with lending kits and offering space. Finally, I’d like to thank all our volunteers who really make this happen every week.”
Further information:
Code Club is a Manx educational charity (number 1322) focussed on empowering individuals in the technological space. They aim to provide a focal point for people of all ages to develop digital skills, share their knowledge and experience, and to teach others how to leverage the technology that surrounds them. If you are interested in helping with sponsorship, please contact sponsorship@codeclub.im
CyberCenturion is a cyber defence competition. It was established by the Air Force Association. The Northrop Grumman Foundation is the Presenting Sponsor for CyberCenturion.