was a two-phased event, starting with an online, capture-the-flagcompetition with the top 20 students attending the in-person portion. Students came from eightuniversities and community colleges from across the state.A significant percentage of cybersecurity jobs require security clearances. This requirement isespecially pronounced in the mid-Atlantic region: a recent survey shows that in the GreaterWashington DC area 9% of job postings require clearance [19]. Many of our industry andgovernment partners list as one of their top workforce priorities to recruit clearable, qualifiedcandidates. While we cannot directly sponsor, nor provide a student’s clearance, we can ensurethat students are informed about what a security clearance is, what the