Farm girl orbits in cyber space

Emelia Goheen, a small-town farm girl from Chauvin, is studying cyber operations at Dakota State University. She’s pictured in her graduation dress from Students Online at Buffalo Trail Public School Division. Supplied Photo

 

Small town girl does good. 

That’s the story so far for 17-year-old Emelia Goheen from Chauvin, who is completing her first year of online studies in Cyber Operations at Dakota State University.

This summer, she plans to take nine credits through three courses to lighten her workload this fall and next spring following a stellar freshman term.

She is also going to rest on her laurels by doing a bit of yard work around the family farm.

She earned a perfect 4.0 GPA in the fall term to make the President’s Academic Honours list. 

She listed the Meridian Source as her hometown newspaper with the DSU’s communication department eventually e-mailing news of her outstanding academic achievement to share with readers.

“I felt truly honoured to be placed on the list. I hope to be on it every semester. I actually will have to be if I want to join the 4+1 program, as I must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.25 or higher after junior year,” said Goheen.

She noted there is also a girl from Cut Knife who made it on the list but thinks she lives on campus and hasn’t met her.

Goheen graduated from high school in the Students Online program with the Buffalo Trail Public School Division, helping to blaze a trail as a female adept in math and science. 

“There have been more and more females joining the STEM career sector, but I would say we are still in the works of forging that path,” she said.

“I think there is room for more diversification in STEM, and I’m excited to be part of that.”

The online course with DSU fits her aspirations to pursue a career in cyber defence or become an online professor in this field, perhaps at DSU. 

“The cool thing about having a career in the cyber world is that you can live anywhere and work for anyone,” said Goheen, who enjoys her mom’s cooking as a full-time online student.

“I could work for banks, the government, universities, or even a small, local company. There is a lot of versatility in cyber defence.” 

She says one of her professors worked on a special team for the U.S. government that tries to hack into whoever is hiring them, and then tells them how they did it so it can be prevented.

“I have always found it inspiring when people who have the skills to do great harm, instead use it for the greater good,” said Goheen. 

Cyber Operations are basically the fundamentals of cyber security, computer programming, and networking.

“I had never heard of DSU before searching for a university that offered the courses and degree path I wanted. I’m so glad I got accepted to DSU, because they’re exactly what I was looking for,” said Goheen.

Cyber Operations is a four-year bachelor of science course, but Goheen plans to take an additional year to obtain a master of science degree.

The degree she is working on is one of 20 National Security Agency’s designated Centres of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations programs in the U.S.

It opens the door to careers as a security engineer, analyst or security penetration tester.

Goheen received a full Rutherford scholarship in Alberta after Grade 12 and got a small scholarship from DSU, while noting most scholarships are for U.S. students.

The teen has lived on a farm for the past eight years with DSU campus life just a mouse click away.

“It has been quite interesting to communicate with my fellow students about the differences between American and Canadian and other international students’ countries) norms,” she said.

Goheen says she would like to visit the campus someday, but it’s not realistic in the near future with the changing regulations and such.

“It’s not a requirement to visit campus, as I can take my BS, MS, and even a PhD with DSU completely online,” she said.

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Geoff Lee
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