Skills Active Apprentice of the Year receives her prize

Skills Active Apprentice of the Year receives her prize at Queenstown ceremony

Skills Active apprentice Shirlene Spencer, a camp administrator at the Teapot Valley Christian Camp in Nelson, received her Apprentice of the Year Award last night at the New Zealand Recreation Association prizegiving dinner.

Skills Active is the industry training organisation for sport and recreation in New Zealand, and the Apprentice Award recognises high-potential individuals gaining skills and qualifications that will help them improve the wellbeing of New Zealanders, through sport and recreation.

In front of a crowd of some 200 of her peers in the recreation industry, Shirlene was presented with her trophy, a mounted ceremonial maripi (cutting tool), by Skills Active general manager of industry engagement, Maren Frerichs.

The award also comes with a $1,000 cash prize.

Skills Active chief executive Dr Grant Davidson says the recreation industry has a great number of high-achieving and high-potential people, and even within that group, Shirlene and her fellow finalists stand out for their talent, hard work and professionalism.

“The winner that we’ve selected from this very impressive group of finalists is someone with plenty of experience, knowledge, skill, and drive,” Dr Davidson says.

“She is an advocate of industry training, which we think is great. And she’s a big believer that a love of learning can carry us through life.”

Recreation has the power to challenge and extend us: Apprentice of the Year

Now Shirlene is looking at further study options to pursue her interest in business and management and grow her career in the field she loves.

“Fundamentally, I just like being able to help people, and I see sport and recreation as a great way to do that. You do see how sedentary some kids can be, so it’s exciting when you see kids exploring new things," she says.

“Here it’s doing the camp activities, at the Aquatic Centre it was learning to swim, and water safety – seeing them stretch outside their comfort zone.

“It’s watching kids going down an abseiling tower and knowing that you’re part of the process that brought them to camp and got them into a programme that is going to extend them and make them grow.”

Ends

About Skills Active

Skills Active Aotearoa is the industry training organisation (ITO) for the sport, recreation, exercise and outdoors industries. We promote sport and recreation careers by developing world-class, nationally-recognised qualifications, and supporting managers to train their staff.

© Scoop Media