TILBA Plumbing and Gas apprentice Bob Sheridan-Gimmel has just been awarded “Best Stage 1” award from TAFE Illawarra.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
He travels up to Wollongong every three weeks for three days for the plumbing apprenticeship course.
Proud boss Ian “Hoots” Cowie said the award recognised Bon as being the best out of all his fellow students in his year for both practical and academic.
Bob is now a second-year apprentice and will be an apprentice for another two years before he gets his own plumbing qualifications.
Bob also won the 2013 Tilba Plumbing employee of the year award and was also one of 25 apprentice plumbers around Australia chosen as the recipients of the recent Rheem Apprentice Plumber Grants, worth $1000 each.
The grants, an initiative of Rheem Australia, aim to encourage apprentice plumbers to complete their training and work towards fulfilling their career goals by providing them with financial assistance.
This year’s 25 grants follow the success of last year’s inaugural Rheem Apprentice Plumber Grants program, which saw 75 apprentice plumbers receive grants in celebration of Rheem’s 75 year anniversary.
“The calibre of apprentices we’ve discovered during the grants process this year has been outstanding,” says Rheem Australia ceo Matt Sexton. “The flood of entries we received for the inaugural Rheem Apprentice Plumber Grants last year really showed us there is a huge need for financial support amongst apprentice plumbers.
“Our grants program has also shown that an impressive number of apprentices have stayed dedicated to their apprenticeship whilst facing all kinds of hardship, plus other apprentices are planning to use their skills to help others or to make a difference to the plumbing industry. This year we even had a couple of apprentices who have either created or are planning to create special tools to help them with their work.”
The industry experts that made up this year’s judging panel included Lyle Kelson from the South West Institute of TAFE, Phil Denman from the Plumbing Legislation & Standards Branch at Building Codes Queensland, and Tony Djodan, Rheem Australia sales manager.
The judges were particularly impressed by the standard of entries received this year, and have thrown their full support behind the Rheem Apprentice Plumber Grants.
“What Rheem is doing is fantastic,” says Lyle Kelson. “The plumber grants give a helping hand to committed apprentices in a very real way that allows them to strive toward reaching their potential as plumbers of the future. A very worthwhile program.”
Recipients of the 2013 Rheem Apprentice Plumber Grants were judged on whether they required financial help and also if they were helping in the community or have future plans to do so.
The full list of the 2013 Rheem Apprentice Plumber Grant recipients are on the Rheem website – www.rheem.com.au