St. John’s Hosts High School Students for Cybersecurity Competition
St. John’s Hosts High School Students for Cybersecurity Competition
Publish Date: 2026-06-02 11:12:00
Source Domain: www.stjohns.edu
June 2, 2026
Students from three New York City metropolitan area high schools visited St. John’s University on Wednesday, May 6, for a Capture the Flag cybersecurity competition held in St. Augustine Hall.
Students from nearby Archbishop Molloy High School and Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Education High School joined students from Mineola (NY) High School in a race to solve digital puzzles with a large screen displaying real-time progress throughout the four-hour competition.
Participants found the competition to be challenging and exciting. Lizeth Suarez of Archbishop Molloy said she appreciated the chance to learn in an active setting.
“The event was very hands-on and interactive, which is what I was looking forward to,” Lizeth said. “I was excited to take part in something active instead of just learning in a classroom.”
Sai Bhoi of Thomas Edison said the experience expanded his view of the cybersecurity industry. “It was a real mind-opening experience for me; it opened my mind to cybersecurity and what it offers,” Sai said. “It was a fun learning experience.”
The event highlighted the ongoing impact of the Sanford family on cybersecurity education at St. John’s. Linda S. Sanford ’74ED, ’98HON, an emeritus member of the University’s Board of Trustees and a former IBM executive, helped establish the Sanford Family Cyber Security Lab in St. Augustine Hall to support the education of potential cybersecurity professionals, including students from local high schools.
Capture the Flag challenges participants to uncover “flags”—secret text strings—embedded inside cybersecurity puzzles. Players are challenged to apply ethical hacking skills to solve real time problems in cryptography, forensics, reverse engineering, and web security. As players outwit their opponents, they earn points, with the highest-scoring teams winning.
Thomas Edison teams swept the top three positions. First place went to the team of Ryan Khan, Bryan Lochan,…
