Highlights from the Cyber Victoria Schools Challenge Awards

Highlights from the Cyber Victoria Schools Challenge Awards

The 2018 Cyber Victoria Schools Challenge Awards were held at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image on May 30. The awards brought together a diverse audience of school educators, students, parents, teachers, tertiary leaders, as well as industry and government representatives. The event centred around the experience of Victorian schools that participated in the challenge and their key learnings.

The content of the challenge consisted of students participating in the Optus Cyber Security Experience and Cyber Teacher professional learning programs. 2,000 Victorian students participated in the challenge from over 175 Victorian schools with over 30 teachers completing the Cyber Teacher professional learning program from September 2017 – May 2018.  To recognise the accomplishments of the Victorian schools, the following awards were provided to top performers.

2017-2018 Cyber Victoria Schools Challenge Winners

  • First Victorian Cyber Teacher: Julie Aitkin, Dandenong High School. Special recognition award for becoming the first certified Cyber Teacher in Victoria.
  • Cyber Teacher Community Champion: Deepika Chandran, Mt Hira College. Special recognition award for becoming the first certified Cyber Teacher in Victoria.
  • Girls in Cyber Champions: St Mary MacKillop College, Swan Hill. School with the highest participation rate for girl students completing the challenge.
  • Highest Performing School: St Joseph’s College, Geelong. School with the highest performing students in the challenge.
  • Cyber School Champion: Mount Waverley Secondary College. School with the highest number of participating students at a Victorian school.
  • Cyber Teacher Champion: Matt Hall, Mount Waverley Secondary College. School with the highest number of certified Cyber Teachers at a Victorian school.

The awards event fostered a vibrant atmosphere and marked a significant milestone for the cyber education ecosystem in Victoria. The event featured a range of ecosystem representatives discussing their approaches and achievements to building the next generation of cyber professionals.

Frank McGuire, MP for Broadmeadows, kicked off the event with a call to action for Victorians students to aspire to achieve their personal best and take advantage of the massive opportunities that cyber security can afford their futures.

La Trobe University’s Vice-Chancellor, John Dewar, provided the opening keynote address highlighting his university’s commitment to cyber security education, and the need for all students to be equipped with digital capabilities required for the future.

Michelle Price, Chief Executive Officer, of Aust Cyber closed out the proceedings, sharing an impassioned personal story about her own self-discovery, eventual cyber career journey and Australia’s demand for cyber security professionals.

LifeJourney would like to thank all of the participants and contributors to the Cyber Victoria Schools Challenge in 2017-2018 who are helping to inspire the next-generation.

  • Phil Scanlan, Chairman, LifeJourney International
  • Frank McGuire, MP for Broadmeadow, Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business and Innovation, Parliamentary Secretary for Medical Research, Victorian Government
  • John Dewar, Vice Chancellor, La Trobe University
  • Rick Geritz, CEO and Founder, LifeJourney
  • Michelle Price, CEO Aust Cyber, Australian Cyber Security Growth Network
  • Renee Hoareau, Director Education and Engagement, LifeJourney
  • Annette Rome, Principal, St Margaret’s and Berwick Grammar School
  • Sam Levy, Teacher, Bayside P-12 College (Williamstown)
  • Bennett Davy, Student, Bayside P-12 College (Williamstown)
  • Trent Mitchell, Student, St Margaret’s and Berwick Grammar
  • Stephanie Miranda, Student, Mount Waverley Secondary College
  • Garry Zhuang, Student, Mount Waverley Secondary College
  • Jessica Cruz, Student, Software Engineering, RMIT
  • Kathy Coultas, Director Strategic Innovation Investment, DEDJTR
  • Stephen Besford, Cyber Security Coordinator, Box Hill Institute
  • Kirstin McIntosh, Program Manager, CyRise
  • Matthew Warren, Professor of Security Deakin University
  • Matthew Connolly, Associate Director Cyber Security Partnership & GTM, Optus Business
  • Piya Shedden, Director Cyber Risk Services, Deloitte Australia
  • Jacqui Loustau, Founder, Australian Women in Security Network

Special thank you to the Thornbury High School ClassTV Media students and their teacher Emma McCulloch!

Highlights from the social media conversation (#CyberVictoria)

“It’s an exciting time to be alive. We need a new type of technology professional including many more cyber security experts” says John Dewar @latrobe , @cyber Victoria School’s Challenge @LifeJourneyUSA ,@DayofSTEM , @VicGovAu ,@frank Maguire – @kathy_coultas

Kathy Coultas “Vic is tech centre of Oz. We’re having a global war for talent in Cyber Security” – @edurome7

Today we supported the Cyber Victoria Schools Challenge Awards where the CEO, Michelle Price, spoke about our vision for a vibrant dynamic sector! We must seize any opportunity, to engage students and teachers to build the cyber workforce of tomorrow. – @AustCyber

My 3 takeaways from fascinating speech by school principal Annette Rome @DayofSTEM #cybervictoria awards: 1. Provide young people with toolkit’s for life. 2. get students comfortable with the uncomfortable in this digital age. 3. There is IQ, MQ and now DQ(Digital IQ). @awsn_au – @jacquiloustau

My 3 takeaways from Frank McGuire @DayofSTEM #cybervictoria awards: 1. show everyday people how they fit into the big picture. 2. Cyber are not jobs for future, these are jobs for now.
3. work on how we connect disconnected individuals in a bolder way @awsn_au – @jacquiloustau