For the second time in two months, a Gumnut apprentice has won a national award.
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Samantha Trotter, who works at Gumnut Patisserie in Mittagong, received the Pastry National Award at the recent National Winner of Excellence in Baking 2016 awards night.
The 20-year-old said she relished the encouragement and support from her personal mentors and bosses, Tracy and Vicki Nickl.
“They just have so much knowledge and skills. There’s nothing Tracy or Vicki give you that they wouldn’t be prepared to do themselves,” she said.
“They are really great people.”
Samantha has had a life-long love of desserts and started her hospitality career as a high school student at TAFE NSW Illawarra Cooma.
With one year to go in her apprenticeship, she has completed a Certificate III in the Retail Baking (Combined) study component at Wollongong in 2016.
“I met a lot of really great people at TAFE, it is really helpful to meet so many people in the industry. It’s also good to have the room to train,” she said.
Peter Hood, Hospitality Head Teacher, worked with Samantha for the past three months in the lead up to the competition and said he was not surprised by her talent.
“It starts with her employers who constantly challenge their apprentices to do their best. They consistently work hard to achieve really good outcomes for themselves,” he said.
“We have been helping her to develop her skills and realise her full potential.”
Samantha’s award comes not long after her colleague, Troy Hindmarch, won gold in the Retail-Baking Pastry category at the WorldSkills Australia National Competition.
Enrolments across TAFE NSW Illawarra are now open.
Visit www.tafeillawarra.edu.au or call 1300 766 123 to find out more about the courses on offer..