Local Air Force JROTC cadets with a knack for knowing their way around cyberspace will get a chance this month to show off their skills and compete for a trip to Washington D.C.

Air Force JROTC teams from Federal Way, Todd Beamer and Washington High Schools will compete this month in CyberPatriot, the National High School Cyber Defense Competition created by the Air Force Association.

The goal of the competition is to excite, educate and motivate the next generation of cyber defenders and other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates.

There is a serious shortage of U.S. citizens graduating with degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and mathematics-computer science is the discipline with the largest projected shortfalls, according to contest officials. National competition programs like CyberPatriot provide students the opportunity to gain hands-on, practical knowledge that prepares them for post-secondary education and jobs in the STEM career fields.

"It's a great way for them to let them use their imagination and embrace a think out of the box kind of mindset," said Master Sgt. Will Smith, a coach for the Federal Way team. "It's also a good way to capture that computer savviness to maybe help them one day protect U.S. resources."

In the qualification rounds, teams download a virtual machine image that contains flaws. Once they unlock the image, they find vulnerabilities inside the machine and secure them within a specified amount of time. Teams play the preliminary rounds from a site on their school campus, and as the competition advances compete for eight spots in the finals in Washington D.C.

While a connectivity problem with the Federal Way team's computer knocked them out of last year's competition, Smith said this year's team - despite returning just one cadet who participated in the competition - is prepared make up for last year's performance.

"Most of the drive comes from wanting to see just how far they can go," Smith said.

For Washington High cadets Nick Gard, John Dunn, James Erickson, Ben Majchrzak, Sam Willett and Aaron Harris, this is the first year competing in CyberPatriot.

"What we're trying to do is educate our cadets that (cyber security) is an issue in today's world," said Col. John Pardo, Washington's JROTC commander. "Any major business today is going to have a computer security information system element to it."

Pardo has seen glimpses of the passion his cadets have for the competition.

"The kids that are into this kind of stuff were excited to get into the competition," Pardo said. "I expect if the kids like it, then we'll do it again (next year)."