Joinery student Jordan Cruickshank has used the advantage of being on a Trades Academy course to help guide her decision on what career path to take.
She developed an interest in joinery during her school years and while still at high school in Year 12 gained a place in the Murihiku Trades Academy Building & Joinery course.
Giving students the opportunity to discover what they’re good at, in the Building & Joinery programme Jordan was able to make things with wood and experience what it’s like to work in a team to complete projects. Amongst the items she crafted were an outdoor chair, outdoor coffee table, garden chest and a cabinet.
She worked in SIT’s purpose-built construction facility in Invercargill with high-quality tools and equipment, and started the journey of learning lots of useful, new skills while making the individual and team projects.
Jordan achieved credits towards NCEA, and got a taste of real, practical, work-based learning in a tertiary environment, studying on Fridays at SIT, also using the course to determine if it was the right qualification for her to pursue.
“Doing Trades Academy helped me decide what I wanted to do as a career. It gave me more of an idea on what joinery’s like, and introduced me more into the trade than what I knew before”.
Now at SIT and completing the New Zealand Certificate in Construction Trade Skills (Level 3) – Joinery, Jordan enjoys the practical emphasis of the qualification and being hands-on as much as possible. She enjoys coming to class and being able to do something practical, instead of sitting all day.
Jordan said she values the fact she is learning skills that will not only help her gain employment but are useful, practical abilities to have in life as well.
She’s also appreciated the Zero Fees Scheme and an accommodation bursary which provides extra living money during semester. “Zero Fees has helped a lot this year, just knowing I don’t owe money, it relieves a lot of pressure”.
Jordan says for her, the highlight of the course is getting to do practical work the majority of the time, and learning new skills she will be able to use in the future.