Lily Tenhave of Ganmain has been awarded the 2020 Charles Sturt University medal after completing a bachelor of science

After completing her three-year Bachelor of Science in 2020, the Ganmain local has been awarded the prestigious Charles Sturt University medal.

"I think I'd heard about the medal but I didn't think I'd get one," Ms Tenhave said.

"I was actually on top of the silos and I checked my emails and saw [the announcement] there."

The medallion is awarded to graduating students in any academic area who have demonstrated high performance.

While graduation ceremonies have had to postponed due to the pandemic, Ms Tenhave will receive the physical medal soon in the mail.

Though, to recognise the achievement, Ms Tenhave was met in regalia by the university's acting vice-chancellor Professor John Germov at the end of last year.

With her bachelor degree now completed, Ms Tenhave will return to Charles Sturt University in 2021 to complete her year-long honours, researching the infiltration of viruses into the nucleus of human cells.

Her fascination with genetics began in childhood when she developed a rather unusual "hobby" breeding rabbits with a friend.

"When I was 12, dad got me a rabbit," Ms Tenhave recalls.

"Then I got another rabbit. Then I had six rabbits."

Researching how the genes interacted in the bunnies, the young Ms Tenhave began breeding the rabbits to produce her desired coat types.

"I started thinking 'how do the colours happen?' So I googled it and found nine different gene types and I realised I could manipulate that [through breeding] by trial and error to come up with the colours I wanted," she said.

While selling the offspring as pets, Ms Tenhave recalls that at the height of her genetic experimentation she had in her possession at least 10 adult rabbits.

"I've had to sell them all now that I've moved. That was a bit sad," she said.

But the legacy of her childhood passion remains as now Ms Tenhave has moved on from understanding the genotypes of rabbits, to now interrogating the same processes in humans.