13 October 2022
Congratulations to our Certificate IV in Cyber Security student Odaya Amsellem who has been crowned the Cyber Security Tertiary Student of the Year at the 2022 Australian Information Security Association (AISA) Cyber Security Awards in Melbourne on October 11.
The wins didn't stop there with the college also announced as the Best STEM Promoter of the Year.
We were also a finalist in the Cyber Security Educator of the Year category with student Kai Baharthah-King additionally a finalist in the Student of the Year category.
After starting her cyber journey with NMTAFE this year with a Certificate IV in Cyber Security following a 10-year career as a dental nurse, Odaya said she was ecstatic to win the award.
“I'm happy to represent female IT people, there's not many of us, I'm trying to encourage more females to come to cyber security, there's a lot of things that women can help with in IT,” she said.
“I always wanted to do IT but I didn't know what aspect of it, but when I researched the needs in society today, cyber security was definitely up there.
“I took on a skill set, which is a very short version of the course, and when I got a taste for it I was hooked from day one. I wanted to do the whole shebang from beginning to end.”
Digital Media and IT lecturer, Alan Johns congratulated Odaya and said it was great recognition for the cyber program run at NMTAFE.
"To win two categories and have Kai as a finalist and be a finalist in another category is outstanding!" he said.
"Its great to be recognised as STEM Promoter nationally. As a small cyber team at Joondalup we have been nominated as finalists for this award since 2018 and continue to strive forward with new strategies.
"It shows just how consistent we've been in the delivery of our cyber security program; it just keeps getting better."
17-year-old Kai began his cyber security studies in 2020 and is currently in his final semester of an Advanced Diploma of Cyber Security at our Joondalup campus. He currently works for Woodside as its youngest ever Cyber Security Operations Analyst.
“I didn't really think it would go that far, it was a big deal just to be nominated but to find out I'm in the top three was pretty awesome," Kai said.
Applications are now open for 2023. Find out more about our IT and cyber security courses.