University of Â鶹´«Ã½–West Oʻahu placed 9th nationally after students participated in the National Cyber League (NCL) biannual cybersecurity skills competition, in individual and team-based events last fall. They competed in individual and team-based events, with more than 8,520 students from 490 colleges and universities.
The —for the fall 2025 competition season—were created by in partnership with .
Hands-on experience
“Participation in the National Cyber League gives UH West Oʻahu students the opportunity to validate their skills against peers across the country in a real-world, hands-on cybersecurity environment,” said the students¡¯ coach Anthony Eich, a cyber competitions and cybersecurity instructor, and an alumnus. “Competitions like NCL require not only technical ability, but discipline, persistence and critical thinking under pressure.”
The UH West Oʻahu National Cyber League fall 2025 team members were Sean Belisle, Nyla Boneza, Jomer Calip, Steven Dinwiddie, Christopher Ebel, Blix Hazen, Joel Kawamae, Chloe Kurashima, Maria Isabel Mendez, Kiana Merez, Branden Ramos, Jamal Timbobolan, John Wright and Jiaye Zhou.
Growing professionally, personally
Dinwiddie, who is double majoring in cybersecurity with a concentration in cyber operations and applied science with a concentration in information security and assurance, reflected on his NCL experience.
“While NCL is undoubtedly challenging, the competition pushed me to apply classroom knowledge to problems that felt like the real thing, solidifying what I¡¯d learned while exposing personal weaknesses, a critical component of growing both professionally and personally,” Dinwiddie said.
He added, “What I enjoyed most was being forced to think creatively, sometimes pursuing paths that seemed like dead ends only to find they led to a breakthrough. That moment of ‘there¡¯s no way this is going to work’ turning into “wow, that actually did work!’ never gets old.”
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—By Zenaida Serrano Arvman