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Some of my biggest breakthroughs have come from opportunities I wasn’t expecting and from choices I almost didn’t make.

I found my way into cybersecurity through what seemed like a chance encounter. As a high school student with an uncertain future and no idea of what to do upon graduation, my breakthrough came from a GenCyber camp for girls hosted by Dakota State University.

Annabelle and Mariel took this concept to heart and worked together to develop a new program within CybHER, the Cyber Community Club, or Cx3, a long-term community of like-minded individuals, with efforts to educate middle and high school boys and girls in the STEM fields of technology and cybersecurity.

“When I was growing up we didn’t have anything like that and the only way you could get into technology was if you knew someone,” Mariel Klosterman said.

“It is an incredible honor to receive the (ISC)² Undergraduate Scholarship, and I am grateful to (ISC)² and its scholarship committee for this amazing opportunity to give back,” said Mariel Klosterman, an undergraduate student at Dakota State University. “This scholarship supports my mission to become a cybersecurity leader who protects and defends my country from cyber threats, and influence others, especially the youth, to be cybersecurity-conscious.”