The death of her father slowed her down a little, but did not stop Ana Naicegucegu from completing her engineering degree.

The Tailevu native graduated with the Bachelor in Engineering with a double major in Telecommunications and Networking yesterday at the Fiji National University graduation at the Vodafone Arena in Suva.

Ms Naicegucegu said the traditional male dominated field was not an easy task having to be surrounded by men every day.

“There were only three girls including myself and even though challenging, it was fun at the same time,” she said.

“All my sleepless nights and struggles have finally paid off.”

Ms Naicegucegu had been staying with her grandparents at Vuniniudrovu Village, Sawani all her life.

“Five minutes boat ride to catch the bus on the other side was one of my biggest challenges,” she said.

“I am thankful to my family and my aunt for all the support and words of encouragement which carried me through.”

Aunt Karalaini Soronakadavu was proud of her.

She has been supporting Ms Naicegucegu from day one of school and yesterday she never regretted doing so.

Ms Soronakadavu who works as an Office Administrator at FNU’s College of Humanities and Education said: “I am so happy for her and I know she deserves it as she was a very committed child.”

To add icing to the cake, Ms Naicegucegu got a job offer to start from Telecom Fiji Limited (TFL) yesterday.

“I was shocked when I got the call from TFL to go and start working tomorrow (today), I did not expect to get a job this early,” Ms Naicegucegu said.

Edited by Rusiate Mataika

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