Skillaroo honoured with three Melbourne Polytechnic awards

Skillaroos have been honoured and recognised time and time again for their outstanding talent and dedication to their respective professions. Last month, recognition came thrice over for 2015 Skillaroo Jyothi Forman when she received three prestigious awards from her training organisation, Melbourne Polytechnic.

Upon completion of the Certificate III in Jewellery Manufacture, Jyothi was unexpectedly offered a rare opportunity to be a guest speaker at the school’s Faculty of Engineering Awards night. “I was really excited for the opportunity. It was a great chance to share my experiences as an apprentice and also a WorldSkills Australia competitor.”

Much to her surprise and delight, the faculty awarded Jyothi the honour of Best 3rd Year Apprentice.

The surprises wouldn’t end there. The following night, Jyothi celebrated her graduation in style at Melbourne Town Hall for Melbourne Polytechnic’s graduation ceremony. Seven outstanding students were recognised that night, and not only did Jyothi take out the award for Outstanding Apprentice/Trainee of the Year, she was also named Melbourne Polytechnic’s 2014 Outstanding Student of the Year.

“Winning Outstanding Apprentice/Trainee was such an honour. When I was called onto stage along with the other outstanding students, they then announced the Outstanding Student overall of Melbourne Polytechnic. It was such a shock to hear my name called!”

Jyothi says that it is rare for a student from a trade to win Outstanding Student of the Year, making this award even more significant to her. “I was so proud to be representing trades and particularly jewellery.”

These awards come as no surprise to Jyothi’s teachers at Melbourne Polytechnic. “Jyothi has worked hard to get the high quality results that led to her selection in the Skillaroo team,” said Andrew Rose. “We have very high hopes for her in the final stage of the competition in Brazil and we wish her the very best.”

The coming weeks will be very busy for Jyothi as she prepares for the 43rd WorldSkills Competition in São Paulo, Brazil. “In June, I will be travelling to Sydney and Hobart for training. Then in July, we get the three designs of which one will be randomly selected the day before competition.”

Jyothi credits her employer, Georgina Staley from Georgie’s Fine Jewellery for her ongoing support of her WorldSkills Australia journey. “I am very fortunate to have such a supportive boss who has allowed me to take that whole month off work before the competition so I can practice the three pieces as much as possible.”

Supporting Jyothi comes naturally to Georgina, who has been continually impressed with Jyothi’s abilities as a jeweller and drive to succeed. “As soon as she knew she would be competing, it was all about training and giving herself the best opportunity she could. I feel you just have to support that. I am behind her 100%. My team, as well, have been wonderfully supportive and have told Jyothi to go for it.”

Jyothi’s workmates have provided her with as much extra time for training as possible over the past year. Georgina is says she would support any of her future apprentices that wish to follow in Jyothi’s footsteps.

“WorldSkills is a fantastic platform for any young person who is willing to commit to set goals and strive for them. I would do the same for any of my staff or future apprentices who wanted to commit and ‘reach for the stars’.”

07/06/2015