Top apprentices go on to kick goals

TAFE Queensland - SkillsTech CSQ Apprentice Awards winners from 2023.

Winners of the 2018 Light Automotive Apprentice of the Year and 2019 Furnishing Trades Apprentice of the Year awards, Tyson Huber and Adrian Gjedsted, are two examples of winners that have achieved great things since receiving their awards.

As the winner of the inaugural Light Automotive Apprentice of the Year award in 2018, Mr Huber wasn’t sure what to expect from the event being held at TAFE Queensland’s South Bank campus restaurant, 66 on Ernest.

“It was a really great event over at the South Bank campus. It was a bigger and showier event than I expected and a lot of fun, pretty different to your usual trades events in a good way,” Mr Huber said.

“You’re looking at mechanics and builders and other tradies, so it was a great thing to be able to get dressed up and recognise people doing well and make it feel like an awesome achievement,” he said.

After winning the award as a fourth year apprentice at Zupps Peugot, Mr Huber has gone on to achieve what he had always wanted to – he is now the Service Manager at Motorline BMW.

“It’s awesome, it’s what you always work towards as an apprentice and once you’re qualified. Being a manager is a different challenge to working on the vehicles because people are a lot more unpredictable and there’s a lot more to consider,” Mr Huber said.

“I’ve got about 65 to 70 service department staff, with about 12 apprentices in there who all train at TAFE Queensland’s Acacia Ridge or Alexandra Hills campuses. It’s cool being a mentor to apprentices and helping them out like my supervisors did when I was an apprentice.”

“To be in a position to be nominating apprentices for the Apprentice Awards is awesome, when I saw the nominations open for this year, I made sure I nominated our best apprentice so that he can hopefully have the same great experience I had,” he said.

Adrian Gjedsted won the Furnishing Trades Apprentice of the Year award in 2019 as a third year apprentice and has also gone on to take on a management position in his field, now the Factory Production Manager for large joinery business MSJ Alliance.

“I always strived for the management side of things, I knew I didn’t want to be on the tools forever but I wanted to stay in the industry. I’ve been the Factory Production Manager here for about six months now and am really enjoying it,” Mr Gjedsted said.

“It’s very busy and different to working on the tools, I’ve never had an office job so that side is new but I know the industry and the work that’s happening in the team really well, so I’m able to apply that to the job.”

“I always tried really hard as an apprentice to be as good as I could at what I was learning, so to be recognised for that with the award was awesome. It was a more formal event than I expected, and it was a big turnout with lots of food and drink and just a great night overall.”

A keen guitar player, Adrian has used the skills he built during his apprenticeship to fuel a hobby in making classical guitars.

Some of Adrian Gjedsted's latest guitars.

“I’ve always loved playing guitar and obviously building things and attention to detail, so I’ve taken up making guitars as a hobby whenever I have a few spare hours on the weekend.”

“It’s very time consuming so I just work away at a guitar whenever I have time, the most I’ve made in a year is three guitars. I love to see the guitar come together and spending my spare time crafting them is a great blend of my interests,” he said.

Tyson and Adrian are two of more than 70 previous Apprentice Awards winners, a list set to grow again in 2024 with 14 trade categories to be awarded on Thursday 10 October at the Royal International Convention Centre.