From her days of being a top science student at Blayney High School through to now, science and all things practical have been a constant part of her life.

Since finishing school Ms Hunter has been working as an apprentice electrician and was hailed as a “great ambassador” for women when she received the Woman in Non-Traditional Trade Award at the Skillset Awards earlier this year.

To top of that achievement, on Friday night Ms Hunter won the Woman in Non-Traditional Trade Award, acknowledging her performance and achievements as an apprentice electrotechnology electrician with MRG Electrical. 

“Once I saw all the other nominees I never really expected to win,” she said.

“I was up against four other really talented girls. One was a heavy diesel mechanic,one a light vehicle mechanic, another electrician and a commercial cook.”

Ms Hunter said that it was the practical application of science that appealed to her and it was why becoming an electrician appealed so much to her.

“I’ve always learnt better if I can see a real world application for something,” she said.

After four years of working as an electrician in a predominantly male domain, Ms Hunter said that in the workplace there was actually very little difference.

“People seem to think that I’ll have a hard time but I never get a hard time from my workmates or other electricians, it’s usually people from outside the trade,” she said.

“Reactions range from ‘that’s fantastic, you go girl’ to ‘are you capable of doing this?’”

Ms Hunter said that apart from climbing through roof cavities on stinking hot days, it’s dealing with self-proclaimed electrical experts that she finds most frustrating.

“They tell you how they’ve done this, this and this and it’s hard to tell them that they could have killed themselves or their family,” she said.