CVHS students win Cisco competition

The Trojans’ CISCO network engineering class placed first at a Contra Costa College competition on March 26.

Seniors Lauren Kennedy, Spencer Shaw and James Egan won their team bracket and took home laptops as their prizes.  A junior team consisting of JaVaughn Sanders, George McIntyre, Elias Messaoudi and A freshman team consisting of Nicholas Buchanan, Jacob Boyd and Brian Bui also took first place, winning other prizes.

The competition consisted of reassembling a computer, producing a PowerPoint within the assembled computer about their process and method, and tackling a networking simulation via the packet tracer program. There was also a network security section in which students had to reconfigure computer settings to make them more secure.

Nerves were high before the competition due to the challenges that lay ahead.

“We were really nervous going into it. But we got in, had fun and by the end we were pretty proud,” said Shaw.

There were 15 teams competing, each consisting of three people. Other teams within the competition put up a good fight and challenged the Trojans for the win. The upperclassmen Trojan teams ran into some difficulties throughout the competition.

“For the construction of the computer we were getting cut from the sharp cases housing the components. They were defects from the company and two of our team members got cut, ” said Shaw.

The junior team was plagued with sporadic freezes from their computer during the PowerPoint section. In addition, the senior team’s cyber security program slowed progress and added tension to the timed competition.

“Our team ran into some trouble with the freezes. It was quite a challenge for us, It took a lot of time,” said junior George McIntyre.

After the Trojan seniors moved passed their challenges, they were able to secure the lead. At the end of the competition, the Trojan teams went up against the other teams for a question and answer section. Each team had to buzz as fast as possible in order to gain some final points. They went on to each win a laptop  All three of the members of the senior team are planning on taking their skills to college.  

“It’s a fun course and we had a great time. It’s truly rewarding short and long term, however you put it,” said Shaw.  

“Each of our team members focused on a specific component and this teamwork really helped us,” said teacher Chris Burns.