LBCSI
LOYOLA BLAKEFIELD CYBER SECURITY SUMMER 2026 NEWSLETTER
Foreword It’s been a busy summer for our LBCSI Dons. Through summer afternoons, LBCSI has worked hard studying for CompTIA certifications, begun preparing for the CyberPatriot season, and travelled to Thailand to compete in the RTARF Cyber Warrior CTF competition as well as run LBC2 Thai Edition for the Sarasas Ecktra School district. We are excited to share what we have been up to and what’s soon to come this year.
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Edward St. John Foundation Impact Report We’re incredibly grateful to be featured in the Edward St. John Foundation’s annual Philanthropic Development Impact Report. The St. John Foundation has been LBCSI’s leading cornerstone partner since 2016, supporting our goal of building the world’s future cyber leaders and allowing us to compete on the national stage, host state-wide competitions, travel internationally, and represent our nation. Thank you so much to Mr. Edward St. John, Mrs. Sharon Akers, and the entirety of the Edward St. John Foundation!
The Foundation’s annual Philanthropic Development Impact Report, which features LBCSI.
Summer Internship Highlights Casey Nazelrod ‘25 Casey Nazelrod ’25 completed an internship during the summer at Invita Healthcare! During his time there, he and two other interns created a program that increased transparency between Invita and hospitals. This program was first tested in the Artificial Implant Division. It informs hospitals about the inventory of the implants and their production, which helps keep patients updated on the status of their implant. Due to the programs’ success, Invita is going to continue using it in every division. We look forward to continuing to partner with InVita for more future opportunities like this. A special thanks to CTO Mr. Mallah for helping us set this up, whom we hope to see Mr. Mallah again this year. Congratulations on your success, Casey.
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Will Coyne ‘25 Will Coyne '25 spent part of his summer working at Tomlin Technology, an IT Solutions company in Westminster, MD. During his internship, he worked diagnosing and repairing customer PCs and laptops by troubleshooting hardware and software to resolve client technical issues. He also jumpstarted a new 3D printing business and assisted with market research. He helped develop monetization strategies to drive new revenue and assisted in managing company social media accounts (Instagram and Facebook) to increase brand outreach and engagement with local clientele. Along with working for Tomlin Technologies, Will spent the first 5 weeks of his summer serving as a summer servant at Bethlehem Farms in West Virginia. During this time period, he worked alongside the Loyola service group that spent a week at the farm with Mr. Morrill. Keep up the great work, Will!
Emmett Omron ‘25 Emmett Omron ‘25, a sophomore at the University of Maryland, recently accepted an internship position with TechPals, a technology enablement platform empowering older adults to stay safe and connected online. Congratulations, Emmett!
Breandan McLaughlin ‘23 Breandan McLaughlin ‘23, spent his summer completing a paid internship at The Siegfried Group out of Philadelphia. The Siegfried Group Specializes in financial advisory of high level CFO’s. During his time there, he worked on a variety of projects involving data loss prevention, phishing prevention, and the development of a GRC auditing bot. The internship gave him the opportunity to put his technology skills to work on real projects while gaining valuable experience in the field. Congratulations on the Internship Breandan.
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Andrew Hill ‘23 Andrew Hill ‘23, Senior at University of Maryland College Park, recently completed an internship with the National Security Agency (NSA) and has accepted a full time return offer. During his internship, Andrew gained valuable professional experience while working in an environment focused on national security and technology. His experience at the NSA is an impressive accomplishment. Keep up the good work Andrew.
2026 Cyber Summer Camp Over the summer, Aidan Bossle ‘27, Will Mascari ‘29, and Mr. Morrill taught the next generation of LBCSI members at the Intro to Cyber Science and Cyber Science Challenge summer camps. Over the duration of the camp, campers learned about physical security and cyber security with activities like breaking into lockboxes, learning the basics of the Linux operating system, and exploring an introduction to Capture the Flag style cyber challenges. The week concluded with a scavenger hunt that sent them around campus and various lab spaces. If you have any questions about the camp or enrollment for next year, please reach out to rbmartin2028@loyolablakefield.org, rtmurphy2028@loyolablakefield.org, or smorrill@loyolablakefield.org.
Certifications We’re happy to share that LBCSI has 6 more members with professional-level certifications. We would like to thank our sponsors, specifically the St. John Foundation, for providing us with the opportunity to take these exams without cost. These exams provide essential skills for working in the cyber security field. Congratulations to Grant Benegas ‘28 and Brody Elkins ‘28 for passing their Security+ exams, as well to Will Barker ‘29, Max Mayfield ‘28 and Ana Mueller for passing their Network + exams, and to Aidan Bossle ‘27 for passing his A + exam!
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RTARF Cyber Warrior This summer from July 9th-17th, we were lucky enough to be invited once again to send a group of students to Bangkok, Thailand to compete in the Royal Thai Armed Forces (RTARF) Cyber Warrior Competition. The RTARF Cyber Warrior Competition is a cyber security Capture the Flag (CTF) competition that challenges participants to demonstrate a number of different cyber security skills through a jeopardy-like board of challenges. CTF Challenge topics include things like cryptography, binary exploitation, digital forensics, web exploitation, network security, and AI security. Participants compete in teams of three and work against an eight-hour clock to identify and exploit vulnerabilities to solve as many challenges as possible. Our team this year, named Team Axios, consisted of Sebastian Rugas ‘27, Aidan Bossle ‘27, and Teddy Murphy ‘28. Also returning this year was Matthew Kocorowski ‘26 to share his experience from competing in the RTARF Cyber Warrior for the past two years. Leading up to the competition, Team Axios spent the better part of the summer preparing, and their hard work was displayed in the team’s results. Team Axios secured a second-place finish in the junior division, an incredible accomplishment that we are extremely proud of. Competing alongside military personnel from the United States, Singapore, Vietnam, and Thailand on an international stage was an extraordinary experience for our students. A special thanks to Mr. Andy Flood for travelling with Team Axios and supporting our students throughout the competition. We are also extremely grateful for everyone who made our involvement in this competition possible, including our sponsors and supporters, without whom none of this would be possible. Well done, Team Axios!
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RTARF Cyber Warrior
The head of the Thai military stops by the table to shake hands with our students in the middle of the competition.
Second place in the junior division, with Mr. Morrill at left.
Heads down on the challenge board against the eight-hour clock.
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The travelling group at the Bangkok venue.
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LBC2 Thai Edition While in Bangkok, our students also had the incredible opportunity to return to the Sarasas Ecktra school district for the third consecutive year with the new venture of hosting and leading their own CTF event for the school’s students. This new event, called LBC2 Thai Edition, consisted of a morning of student workshops and lessons led by our group covering common CTF topics such as Cryptography and Web Exploitation, as well as an afternoon CTF competition for the students to show off their CTF skills. We have been proud of how our involvement with the Sarasas Ecktra school district has grown over the past three years, so preparing for this event was our club’s number one priority entering the summer. The day was led completely by our group, who took invaluable lessons in public speaking, managing large groups, and working on the fly away from this experience. LBC2 Thai Edition was the product of an enormous amount of preparation and hard work from our students, who spent countless hours developing challenges, designing informative workshops, and preparing themselves to independently lead an entire day of cybersecurity education and competition. The Sarasas Ecktra school district supports 80,000 students, so our guys knew this event was a massive undertaking, and they made sure it would be a valuable and memorable experience for every student in attendance. The day began with a broad explanation of cyber security and a Q&A session on common cyber security issues, such as password security and phishing attacks. Our group then unpacked two of the most prevalent CTF topics in Cryptography and Web Exploitation through two educational workshops. These workshops consisted of an explanation of common vulnerabilities and ways to exploit them. The workshops also included a live demonstration of a simple CTF challenge for said topics. Following lunch, the student CTF competition, which contained challenges relating to the day’s earlier workshops, ran for around an hour. Our guys put a lot of work into developing challenges and content for this competition, and were worried throughout the day if the challenges would end up being too easy or too difficult for students to solve. Thankfully, the challenges ended up sitting at a perfect level of difficulty. Many of the students were able to succeed and display a high level of understanding of the topics covered earlier in the day. All of the students had a blast and were extremely grateful to our guys for running the competition. The day concluded with an awards ceremony to the top three finishers in the competition. Overall, the day was an incredible success and an incredibly rewarding experience for our guys, who were showered in
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praise by the school’s amazing students and staff. A huge shoutout to the following students from the school’s cyber security club, who provided help throughout the day and impressed all our guys with their abilities: Mr. Atiphat Raktabut (Ik): MC Ms. Pariyakorn Chomsiri (Proud): MC Mr. Oliver Jarukit Dean (Oliver): Staff Mr. Eakhawat Jansiri (Te): Staff Mr. Landon Boonstra (Landon): Staff Mr. Kamolpagron Saravan (Time): Staff Ms. Supitsara Suvansin (Kaw): Staff
Our students are already eagerly anticipating their return to the Sarasas Ecktra school district next summer. We are working hard to bring LBC2 Thai Edition to an even larger audience next year. Thanks again to everyone who made this opportunity possible!
Our guys and Mr. Morrill are presented with an award for running LBC2 Thai Edition.
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LBC2 Thai Edition
The day opens in front of a packed hall with a broad look at where cyber security turns up in everyday life.
Mr. Morrill and the group make the case that hacking can be ethical.
The cryptography workshop begins with the Caesar cipher.
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A student takes the microphone during the morning Q&A.
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LBC2 Thai Edition
Aidan Bossle ‘27 helping a student during the competition.
Sebastian Rugas ‘27 walking students through the competition.
Student MCs from the school’s cyber security club keep the day running.
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Thailand Sightseeing Our guys were also able to enjoy some time exploring the city of Bangkok. With the help of our travel coordinator Mr. Andy Flood, the group was able to explore some of Thailand’s most beautiful temples, including Wat Pho and Wat Arun. Much of the country’s folklore is expressed through murals and artwork within these temples, which was also something that interested our guys. Alongside visiting these iconic temples, the group explored Bangkok’s Chinatown, which stood out for its vibrant city lights and authentic street food. The final highlight of the trip was an exciting Muay Thai fight which our group was lucky enough to see. The energy and intensity of the fight offered our guys a firsthand peek at how Muay Thai is deeply woven into Thailand’s cultural identity. We would once again just like to thank our sponsors and providers for this valuable experience for our entire program.
The group beneath the central spire at Wat Arun.
Striking a pose in front of a golden chedi and its guardian giants during a day of temple visits.
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Air Force Association’s CyberPatriot Over the summer, our Dons began preparing for the Air Force Association’s CyberPatriot 19 season! CyberPatriot is the largest youth cyber security competition in the nation, attracting over 3,000 teams from all over the country. After a successful CyberPatriot campaign last year, where our Team Axios, consisting of Patrick Dishon ‘26, Kai Cooke ‘26, Connor Counselman ‘26, Billy Nicholson ‘26, Matthew Kocorowski ‘26, and JT Nachtman ‘26, placed 2nd in the state and once again progressed to the national round to compete, our guys are excited for yet another productive year. We will have more updates in our following newsletters on the state of CyberPatriot, so stay tuned!
LBC2 X This coming Spring, we are looking forward to hosting the 10th edition of LBC2, LBC2 X, on March 20th! Our annual cyber challenge draws talent from across the east coast to compete in our signature CTF style competition. This year, we look forward to opening new opportunities to learners of all experience levels, from first timers to seasoned veterans of cyber challenges! Supporting us in this endeavor once again we welcome back our title sponsor Dark Wolf Solutions. We are planning for LBC2 X to be the latest and greatest installment of this tradition, so we hope to see you all there to celebrate this event. For more information please visit www.lbc2.org or email lbc2staff@gmail.com
School Presentations We are excited to have yet another great year of school presentations! If your school or anyone you know would like LBCSI students to deliver a digital awareness presentation regarding social media use, digital footprint awareness, online safety and reputation, please reach out to rbmartin2028@loyolablakefield.org, rtmurphy2028@loyolablakefield.org, or smorrill@loyolablakefield.org. We would love to visit new schools, students, and parents!
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Guest Speaker Series We’re excited to once again share our preliminary guest speaker series for 2026! All parents and students are welcome to attend speaker sessions, and we would be happy to see everyone attend. Our speaker schedule is subject to change, and will be expanding as the year comes. Our guest speakers are a fundamental part of our year. We cannot thank our guest speakers enough for taking time out of their busy schedules to come and speak to our members. Stay tuned for updates on the speaker schedule!
December 1st Jasper Graham—Global Deputy CISO / US Banks CISO / Global Threat Hunt Lead at Morgan Stanley
December 9th Victor Norris—President at Corporate Coverage TPA / Andrew Bartels—Salesforce Strategist and Integrator
January 27th Harold Rodriguez
March 10th General Novotiny—U.S. Cyber Command’s Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer And many more to come….
Thank you all for taking the time to read this year’s summer 2026 Newsletter! Your continued interest and support is what makes our efforts possible. As always, Roll Dons Roll! Thanks again, Teddy Murphy ‘28, Ryan Martin ‘28, Mr. Stephen Morrill, The entirety of Loyola Blakefield’s Cyber Science Initiative
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