Every year, the School of Information Technology hosts the Central Illinois High School Cyber Defense Competition (CIHSCDC). Marc Roth-Garcia ’20 has seen this event from every angle.
Initially, the competition brought Roth-Garcia to campus as a high school student. It solidified his decision to choose information technology (IT) as a career path. Because of his connection with a faculty member, he chose ISU to pursue his degree in cybersecurity.
While on campus as an undergraduate student, Roth-Garcia worked with faculty members to ensure the competition ran smoothly. He even wrote some of the challenges for the competition, and those challenges ended up being used for four or five years. He also helped create different ways to track students and their progress (initially done via email but now using the Discord platform).
“As the years have progressed, so have the systems,” said Roth-Garcia. “When I was competing, we were using Windows XP/7 and Windows Server 2008/2012, and those have now been traded up for Windows 10 and the new versions of Windows Server.”
Currently, Roth-Garcia works as a Security Engineer for the Managed Services Team at Outpost24. He also serves as a mentor for Wheaton Warrenville South High School, and this year, he brought those high school students to the competition.
“I have had the pleasure of wearing many different hats when it comes to participating in this competition, but being on the sidelines like this was probably the hardest,” said Roth-Garcia. “I was able to be there and support my students by cheering them on, but not allowed to offer any help whatsoever.”
While Roth-Garcia couldn’t directly advise his students during the competition, his expertise was put to work in other ways during his time on campus. He assisted with troubleshooting some account issues at the administrative level, and also spoke to current ISU IT students. “I had the pleasure of speaking with students that were volunteering that day, and I was able to provide advice, calm some fears about entering the ‘real world,’ and share some fun stories.”
Having been a part of CIHSCDC for ten years now, Roth-Garcia can attest to the value of participating in the competition. “This event is important because it allows for high school students to learn more about the options and opportunities they can have if they choose this as a career path,” said Roth-Garcia. “The students are able to speak with college professors that could one day be their professor, they get to ask the presenters questions, and they get to simulate actual IT work.”
“Within the competition, participants experience collaborating with a team, system hardening, incident response, anomalies, and leadership opportunities. Working together to complete a common goal is a valuable skill that will serve them well no matter their eventual career path.”
Roth-Garcia gives kudos to the School of IT for making sure the competition always evolves and is a positive experience for the participants. “ISU is always willing to take feedback from all students, and always willing to try new things and keep the students on their toes in the competition.”
“I love watching the excitement of young minds as they learn, struggle, become leaders, and find their passion,” said Roth-Garcia. He estimates that he has helped 200-300 high school students, and more than a few dozen undergraduate students, figure out if cybersecurity is the right path for them. “If students are considering a career in IT, especially cybersecurity, I encourage them to always pursue more knowledge. Our field is ever-expanding, and you will never know it all.”
In addition, he encourages students to learn how to communicate and always return to fundamentals. Roth-Garcia also shares that “networking—both the computer kind and the people kind—are very important. The earlier you start to be comfortable with both, the better.”
Roth-Garcia also encourages students and young professionals to help others grow by sharing their knowledge—a piece of advice that he clearly lives out by example.
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