National finalists in cybersecurity competition ...

The four Waukon High School young ladies pictured above qualified to compete in the national online “Capture the Flag” competition through Girls Go Cyberstart, a cybersecurity competition which took place over the summer beginning with 719 teams from high schools across the nation. The National “Capture the Flag” competition of 120 qualifying teams involved a set of computer security puzzles and challenges designed to test skills in areas such as reverse-engineering, memory corruption and cryptography, among others. Members of that National Finalists team include, left to right in above photo, Ashley Liddiard, Bridget Duncklee, Alexis Hogan and Madelyn Waters, all under the direction of Allamakee Community School District Allamakee Accelerated Learning Program (AALP ) Teacher Peyton Lapel. Alexis Hogan earned a spot on the individual semifinalists list for her overall score in the competition. Submitted photo.