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Fiona's LettersTAFE Motor Mechanic Training Course for Girls Epilogue Hi All, Well, graduation was a bit of a hit and miss affair. It was supposed to have been on Wednesday but I received a call at 5:30pm on Tuesday to say it had been postponed until Friday because the NRMA representatives were unable to make it. A little bit disappointing but nothing too dramatic. I knew that it would prove to be bad for one of the girls since she had booked a flight to Brisbane for Thursday so it meant she would miss out. Anyhow, Friday rolled around and still no NRMA representation!! It seems that due to NRMA going into damage control over closures to several of their insurance call centres, they were unable to spare 2 people for a couple of hours - even after having the dates changed at their request. However, the show must go on and the presentation of certificates was made by the course co-ordinators, et al. Sadly, none of us will know what marks we earned for another 6 weeks when our TAFE certificates will be posted out to us. Fingers crossed, mine will show before I move to Brisbane, otherwise it will have to be redirected in the post. So, apart from taking a calculated guess, we have no idea of placings just yet. Perhaps we may never find out. OK, enough griping - I do have a lot of people to thank for the last 16 weeks. The TAFE co-ordinators and teachers did a wonderful job, considering this is only the second time the course has been conducted. All of the printed materials given to us were put together by them so a lot of after hours work was needed to print up relevant texts or to research information that we would need. They were all very patient and more than willing to help us understand the lessons and happy to comply with requests for extra work on a particular subject if some of us were not quite getting it. Making the lessons fun and interesting was also a very hard thing to do but they managed to do this very well even when it was only 3 or 4 of us attending! NRMA must also rate a mention and a thank you for sponsoring the course - supplying the overalls, boots and insurance for work experience. It certainly wouldn't have been possible without these key elements. TAFE, of course, have gone out of their way to run this course - against the odds and at great expense. The cost is the same to them whether 3 of us showed for class or all 16. A big thank you has to go to all of you who have stuck with me all the way and showed me such great support. It felt like I wasn't just going for my sake - I had people relying on me and there was no way I was willing to disappoint them. Besides, I'd made the commitment to myself and I was going to see it through. Another big thanks - last but not least - is to Janelle, my partner, for putting up with my crazy whims and supporting my decision to quit full-time work and do this. Most partners would have had at least a cautionary word to say but she felt that if this was something I really wanted to do, then do it I must. It took some considerable courage on her part - thanks again, hon. Before I sign off, a couple of happily-ever-after tales. I will name names on this occasion - Kiwi, a single mother of 7 year-old twins, has been offered a job in a plastics manufacturing factory as a result of her work experience in a mechanic's workshop and will start this week. Ultimately, she will be trained to maintain the machinery in the factory. Karina, fresh out of school has applied to start an apprenticeship with a Toyota dealership and indications are that she will start soon. Liz, who moved from Brisbane, has been accepted to start an apprenticeship with Porsche, in Alexandria, next January. They are building a new premises and will need extra apprentices when it is opened. They are particularly interested in her because they want more women in the workshop. Not too shabby for a bunch of girls, eh? :) Thanks again, everyone! |
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