Apprentice’s work ethic wins award
Good hard work and great test results are still the key to success at least if you’re an apprentice.
Jacob Caskey, a second year apprentice with Evergreen Plumbing in Ha¯ wera, has won a nationwide award for his efforts during his first year of work.
Caskey works with Apprenticeship Training Trust (ATT) to be employed at Evergreen and was nominated, and went up against 79 others, for the ATT Plumbing Award for the Most Outstanding New Apprentice.
He was ‘‘stoked, to say the least’’ when he found out he’d won the title.
‘‘I mean shortlisted from 79, it’s a good achievement.’’
Ben Annabell, the co-owner of Evergreen Plumbing, said he and ATT nominated Caskey for the award.
‘‘The reason we nominated him was definitely his work ethic and for a first-year apprentice he’s probably well and truly beyond our expectations in terms of his abilities,’’ Annabell said. ‘‘And ATT obviously pick up on that sort of thing from the meetings they have with him and the trade school results.’’
Annabell said apprentices went away to trade school three times a year for a week at a time and Caskey’s results from that had been ‘‘outstanding’’.
‘‘He's probably well and truly beyond our expectations in terms of his abilities.’’
Ben Annabell
Caskey was awarded a trophy for taking out the title, and $400.
However, his success doesn’t stop there.
Evergreen nominated Caskey for another national scholarship called The Dux Scholarship.
‘‘Dux is a big plumbing supplier for materials and retail stuff,’’ Annabell said. ‘‘They offer a scholarship once a year for a first-year apprentice.
‘‘The winner gets their second, third, and fourth year fees paid for, which is quite big - a couple of grand a year if not more.’’
Annabell said ATT backed up Caskey’s nomination and he has since made a short list of five.
‘‘And there would be a lot of apprentices nominated for this.’’
Caskey has also been nominated for the South Taranaki Youth to Work awards by Evergreen.
In terms of the work, Caskey said he’s loving it.
He said to be qualified and certified can be up to eight years if he chases plumbing, gas fitting and drain laying.