Patrick Herendeen, an Ivy Tech Community College Northeast student in Computer Information Technology, will compete Friday in the Cisco Networking Academy NetRiders competition’s Theatre Finale, the final round of the competition for the United States and Canada.
The competition began in mid-October, when Herendeen was one of five Ivy Tech Northeast students—and one of more than 1,000 students in Canada and the United States—to compete in the competition that tests students on their knowledge of computer technology, from troubleshooting network problems to the components of a monitor.
Herendeen not only moved on to round two, but he learned he ranked No. 1 of all Indiana qualifiers in the first round. He advanced through round two in mid-November.
“I knew going into round one, there was going to be a lot of material we had not covered in class,” Herendeen says. “When I heard I qualified into round three, I thought, ‘This is amazing.’”
Round three will be live—all remaining contestants will compete at one time from their various locations. STEM Cyber Tech Grant Coordinator and Cisco instructor Raphaël Wolff will proctor Herendeen’s round Friday. Herendeen is one of 89 students left in the competition, and one of three from Indiana, which includes another Ivy Tech Community College student, from the Lafayette region, and a Ball State University student.
Cisco will reward the top U.S. scorer, the top Canadian scorer, and the next two highest scorers in this final round with a January 2014 study trip to California, which will include visits to Stanford University and Cisco headquarters, where they will meet with Cisco engineers and executives. Winners also get to be listed on the Cisco website, which is used by employers in search of new recruits.
Learn more about the competition at academynetriders.com.
Inside Ivy Tech 