AFTER scoring a 6.82 GPA, Newcastle's Elena Scifleet has been honoured with a Charles Sturt University medal.
The 41 year-old, originally from Ukraine, graduated with a Master of Cyber Security and was awarded a Postgraduate University Medal at a ceremony in Sydney last month.
"I am absolutely honoured, it was definitely very unexpected," she said.
The mum of two has spent the last three years juggling motherhood, work and studying and says she has always had an interest in the cyber security field.
"I worked in IT for a very long time and took some time off to have kids and then I went to a conference and heard someone speak about cyber security, and it really got me interested," she said.
"This new study path gave me an opportunity to not only learn valuable skills in a new career, but also gave me confidence in applying for the work opportunities I would otherwise not have been considered for."
Coming from a non-English speaking background, Ms Scifleet grew up in New Zealand before moving to Australia in 2007 and spent most of high school learning a new language.
"That experience taught me to be resilient, which let me thrive in different environments," she said.
She said one of the highlights through her study was creating an unofficial Discord channel with two of her classmates for online students to connect and talk about their subject.
"It was quite isolating because you don't go to class, you only see your lecturers online so I created a little channel for students from the class which has now grown to more than 800 members," she said.
"I think that part was quite a big plus for me while studying because I met so many amazing people and made so many amazing friendships and connections."
In 2022 Ms Scifleet established the established the Charles Sturt Cyber Security Society, where she was the founding member and first president.
She was also awarded a Best Security Student award by Australian Women in Security network in 2021 and volunteers for the NSW Cyber Ambassador program, where she travels to various schools to inspire high school students to consider a career in cyber security.
"Support others around you how you'd like to be supported, and share any and all knowledge you have," she said.
"This learning journey is so much better when you are growing together with other likeminded people."
Ms Scifleet hopes to continue to develop her role in cyber security education and is looking at doing her PhD.
She wanted to thank her family and friends for their support throughout her studies.
