Inspiring Graduate: Owen Pryga (’25)
- Hometown: Grafton
- Degree: B.S. Cybersecurity
Owen Pryga was encouraged to attend UW-Stout by friends who graduated from the university. “They pushed me to go to Stout for the polytechnic aspect, which they knew I loved. After finishing my first semester, I knew this was the place for me due to the hands-on nature of the classes,” he said.
He grew from the challenge of loneliness, being away from his family, to making fast friendships and even stepping into leadership roles, including serving as president of the Cyber@Stout student club and as a lead lab assistant.
Pryga earned his cybersecurity degree and crossed the commencement stage on Dec. 20, along with 527 UW-Stout graduates. He was hired before graduation as a consulting engineer with Heartland Business Systems.
“I hope to make the world a more secure place and to inspire others to learn more about the many aspects of cybersecurity. The problem-solving and troubleshooting required make me more passionate about the industry and spark joy in learning the unknown. I hope to help others find that same joy,” he said.
How has UW-Stout prepared you to work in your field?
In a lot of classes, you never work alone; you always have a partner working with you. It was daunting at first, though as you take more classes, you bond pretty heavily with the people in your major and it is such a fun experience. Friendships and partnerships throughout made it all the better when working in labs. If you feel defeated, there is someone else with you working on the problem.
With the amount of collaborative work, Stout sets you up nicely for internships, as you will be working with teams of people. I had many internships, from the first one out of high school working at the help desk at a manufacturing company, to HBS as an engineering associate, where I helped customers shape their IT infrastructure around their business needs.
I am grateful to the people and teams I met, as they shaped me to be the person I am today, taking bits and pieces from every opportunity that came my way.
What stands out about your UW-Stout experience?
There are so many areas of Stout that stand out. First of all, Program Director Holly Yuan is such a passionate and driven individual. She really cares about the program and each and every student in it. She truly takes great care in ensuring the program sets students up for success after college and keeps up with people in the industry to ensure that the program is up-to-date, and the employers are happy with Stout graduates. She supports the students in a variety of ways, encouraging employers to hire Stout students throughout the semester, giving students hands-on work experience before they graduate.
You get to know each professor in the program, and you understand how special Stout is when you get into the industry.
Through internships and networking, I learned there are many Stout alumni within every IT team. No matter where you go, there is at least one person on the team that went to Stout.
How did your campus involvement impact your experience?
I had the fortunate opportunity to be president of the Cyber@Stout student club. They do anything related to cybersecurity, from hosting industry professionals’ presentations to student-led presentations. They also have a focus on cybersecurity competitions.
When I first became Cyber@Stout president, we only focused on one competition, the CCDC (Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition). That year, we took first in state and second overall in our qualifying group among 21 teams.
I am really proud of how the organization has grown in membership and expanded the number of competitions we work toward. I was able to grow my skills beyond the classroom; much of what I know was from preparing for those competitions. Apart from learning, those clubs allowed me to build lifelong friendships with many of the members.
What challenges did you face in earning your degree and how did you overcome them?
Many of my challenges were adjusting to living alone, being so far away from my family and friends back home. I did not know very many people when I first arrived at Stout, which, of course, made me scared I would not fit in.
I developed some pretty strong bonds with the people around me in my first club experiences and classes, so that issue of “fitting in” never came back.
What are you most proud of as you finish your degree?
Some of the things I am most proud of were how I helped promote the program, in and out of the classroom. I met with people from large companies interested in helping Stout, a variety of individuals touring Stout, whether it was students or committees, and I even got the chance to meet a state congressman.
I have slowly been expanding the Cyber@Stout practice environment, making it grow with the organization and testing features I wanted to learn more about. We also had the chance to host a successful Capture the Flag cybersecurity event with a school in Kuala Lumpur.
I am just super grateful for the experiences I was able to be a part of. I met so many cool and interesting people, and I am hopeful to see where the program grows and where my career takes me from here. You don’t realize what you have done until you take some time and reflect back on what you’ve accomplished.
