Where a lot of our energy goes.
We started our Community Skills Scholarships program to help keep young locals employed and staying in their communities. The program is designed to help people realise their ambitions, kick-start careers, ease training costs and provide guidance through career and lifestyle decisions.
The program provides up to $13,500 towards their training and tools in any trade of their choice in the local community. Anyone living in the living in the Springsure, Rolleston, Injune, Roma, Surat, Wallumbilla, Wandoan, Miles, Condamine, Chinchilla, Tara and Dalby areas who are currently completing their first year of training or keen on starting an apprenticeship/traineeship can apply.
For the first time since the inception of the Skills Scholarships, we invited both first year apprentices and trainees to get involved and make a difference in the future of their community. After receiving more than 100 applications, a special presentation dinner was held on the 7th July to announce the 22 successful recipients for 2010. We were pleased to award the Scholarship to 11 Apprentices and 11 Trainees, bringing the total number of recipients supported through the program to fifty-three.
In addition to the financial support, Origin Community Skills Scholarship recipients are able to gain access to the Skills Scholarship Network – a series of training courses and networking sessions to develop life skills and build a peer support network. Origin volunteers and local businesses come along to share their knowledge and experiences at these sessions.
The sessions include seminars on topics like how to create a budget and starting a small business. If you’d like to join our networking group, or present to the apprentices, email us to get involved.
We’d like you to meet some of the people we’ve been proud to have helped through this program so far.
Brian Vincent, Fitter and Turner, Westlands Engineering, Roma.
“The support I’ve received has made a big difference to me and means that I can stay in the local area to build my career. It’s great to see that scholarships are given to people wanting to make a go of it outside the oil and gas industry. I’m doing a fitter & turner apprenticeship, but there are others in the program who are training to be hairdressers, chefs, boiler-makers, electricians, plumbers and carpenters.”
Naomi Bowman, Hairdresser, Hair @ Dalby.
“I had to move out of home to work and with paying rent the scholarship has made it a bit easier to pay for tools and things for work. I plan to finish my trade, stay working here and then eventually own my own salon – around Dalby, or in a rural area.”
Harrison Ellis, Community Skills Scholarships recipient,
Dalby.
Lachlan Drury, Community Skills Scholarships recipient, Condamine.