Troy High School appears to have some kind of superpower. Or maybe it's the embedded passion for edtech that Allen Stubblefield possesses that won them first spot at the National Cyber Patriots XI Competition in 2020. Out of a record breaking 6,387 teams registered, Troy High School won first place.
Land on the Troy High School website and you'll be greeted with trophy rich photos, inspirational and compelling school program names like 'Tech School Magnet' and not to mention the school mantra 'Fight like a warrior' which weaves in and out everything they do. It's hard to ignore the drive and passion throughout the school community.
Allen Stubblefield, cyber defense teacher and coach at Troy High School has an undeniable passion for technology-based education. His drive is contagious, and it comes as no surprise that the Practice Labs CREW felt compelled to work with Allen.
Goals aligned, we are privileged to work with the school and support them with their weekly after-school cybersecurity program. The specialized program has approximately 400 students in ages 10-18 where students have access to the Practice Labs platform to practice their cybersecurity skills.
Allen Stubblefield explains how virtual machines support his students;
Practice Labs REALLY helps us reinforce keyboard/mouse skills with VMs after we teach the theory.
Because of our large size, we save immeasurable time by not having to download large 3-8 GB files to individual PCs, we easily support students who practice virtually from home, and Practice Labs virtual machines are up 24/7.
Practice Labs will be part of our practice regime for years to come!
Allen highlights the value of utilizing Practice Labs within the cyber program:
• When a new student joins - Practice Labs adds them to the right labs in about a minute.
• When multiple new students join - Practice Labs adds them ALL to the right labs in about 2 minutes.
• The time to start up a lab is less than 1 minute, including login time.
Edtech enthusiast Allen continues;
For other educational groups, I can see Practice Labs helping new cyber teams quickly learn without being restricted by lack of computers or IT skills. We have several students who access Practice Labs using Chromebooks, which as a device can't host a virtual machine on their own.
Go Troy Cyber and Practice Labs!