Afghan refugee and Hallam resident Zahra Karimi has found her calling in cyber security and is encouraging other females to move into the traditionally male-dominated industry.
The Hallam resident was among the winners at the ninth annual Chisholm Education Awards on Wednesday 21 June, taking home the Vocational Student of the Year award.
Arriving in Australia a month before the Taliban regained control of Afgahnistan, Ms Karimi said after completing her Bachelor of Software Engineering through a scholarship in Kyrgyzstan, she wanted to to move into cyber security, which is one of the fastest growing areas of Information Technology.
“Cyber security is the future,” she said.
“Artificial Intelligence and digitalisation are taking over the world by speed.
“Being safe and having control over cyber life, which is the future, one must know cyber security.”
Enrolling in Chisholm’s Certificate IV in Cyber Security and covering everything from network security fundamentals and incident response plans to ethics and privacy in an IT setting, Ms Karimi said she found the Chisholm community to be welcoming and she made friends easily.
“Whenever I needed any help regarding my academic issues, the teachers never hesitated to help me,” she said.
“Chisholm provided me with opportunities, not only in my field of study, but also as a newcomer to Australia.
“It helped me find a community to interact with.”
One of only two girls in her group, Ms Karimi was also part of Chisholm’s Student Ambassador Program, which helped her improve her communication skills and network with people from different backgrounds.
She has since started work in a migration agency.
Ms Karimi said she was already putting what she has learned to good use.
“I remind my colleagues at work or my circle of friends and family to be more cautious of their data security,” she said.
“I also let them know how to better manage their data protection.”
Ms Karimi said cyber security was set to grow rapidly in the future and encouraged other young women with an interest in science and technology to not be afraid to branch into a traditionally male-dominated field.
“I’d recommend women and girls get into cyber security,” she said.
“I’d say my biggest achievement is being a woman in this field.
“I found the courage to be myself and have the power to do things that people normally think I’m not able to.”
Proud Wiradjuri/Ngunnawal woman and Cranbourne resident Sarah Thorne won the award for Koorie Student of the Year, following a whirlwind journey of recovery from addiction and mental illness and reconnecting with her First Nations culture.
She is a proud LGBTIQA+ queer ally and a passionate activist for pride rights, especially for Rainbow Mob.
After high school, she completed a Diploma of Visual Arts with Chisholm.
After working in graphic design and marketing for a while, in addition to doing retail work, Ms Thorne eventually decided to have a career change and enrolled in Chisholm’s Bachelor of
Community Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD), followed by the Graduate Certificate in Family Violence.
“I’ve lived a very colourful life, with lived experience of mental health and AOD specifically,” she said.
“That’s probably what led me to choose the course.”
Ms Thorne did a placement at Salvation Army START Community, an AOD day program and later got a job at headspace Dandenong as an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island youth access worker.
After just six months, she was offered a position with headspace as the national project manager of outreach and relationships.
Ms Thorne’s most recent posts included spending 14 hours and three flights getting to the tiny town of Kununurra in Western Australia to work with the local First Nations young people and heading to Mutitjulu at the foothills of Uluru to help open a new service provision for First Nations people.
“If you’d told me that five years ago, I would have laughed at you,” she said.
“There was a point in my life where I was in a pretty bad way.
“I was in a really dark place.”
Ms Thorne said her work was both exciting and rewarding.
“It’s pretty incredible what I get to do,” she said.
“I work with the headspace centre network, which has over 156 centres across the country, and support them with their First Nations community connections.
“I love it, I get to see some of the most incredible places, which I would never have seen any other way.”
Ms Thorne said the support of Chisholm was invaluable along her journey.
“The knowledge and the lived experience that the teachers had in the sector was just incredible,” she said.
“That was one of the greatest opportunities I had, was to learn under people who have done some pretty cool things in the sector.
“I was really inspired by that.”
Ms Thorne said her recovery inspired her to reconnect with her culture.
“As an Aboriginal woman, I wasn’t that connected in my younger life to my culture,” she said.
“I decided I wanted to be able to help other people in the same position as me.”
Ms Thorne said she was lucky to be able to help others and she “couldn’t be happier”.
“It’s been hard work and it’s taken having a really supportive network,” she said.
“I have a family who never let me go and never backed down on sticking by me.
“I get up every day and I’m so excited to go to work.”
Chisholm Institute chief executive Stephen Varty said every nominee should be “extremely proud” of their achievements.
“I congratulate all finalists and winners from the Chisholm Education Awards,” he said.
“With over 36,000 students enrolled across over 300 courses, the nominations process was very competitive, and the winners were exceptional examples of what makes Chisholm one of Australia’s leading TAFE providers.
“Thank you to all of our partners and everyone involved in organising the 2023 Chisholm Education Awards, it was such a fantastic event and congratulations once again to all of the inspirational winners and everyone who has supported them along the journey.”
