Hokianga teen awarded training scholarship

Hokianga teen awarded training scholarship

A Hokianga tourism worker has been awarded a joint ATTTO Destination Northland scholarship.

The Aviation Tourism and Travel Training Organisation and Destination Northland have awarded Jade Matthews with a scholarship to train for his National Certificate in Business (First Line Management).

Jade, 19, who works at the Copthorne Hotel and Resort Hokianga, was awarded the scholarship at the Northland Tourism seminar in Kaitaia on 14 September.

Wendy Fisher, Business Development Manager at ATTTO, was one of the industry judges on the panel.

She said: “Jade impressed us with his professional demeanour, outstanding manners, confidence and positive attitude towards succeeding in his chosen career. This left us feeling that there was no doubt that we had chosen the right person to award this scholarship to.

“It’s so refreshing to meet a young adult such as Jade who is so committed to putting in the hard yards to reap the benefits of a successful and sustainable career in Tourism.”

The training Jade is undertaking gives him an overview of the skills and knowledge expected of people who are, or are seeking to be, Team Leaders or Supervisors. It is perfect training for someone looking to advance their career, or for employers looking to take someone to managerial level.

Jade said that one of the reasons he works in tourism is that it enables him to keep living in an area he loves, and share it with both visitors and local people alike.

He said: “The best thing about working here is the atmosphere, both from tourists and the local people who support the business. You get to enjoy meeting new people as well as taking care of the people you know.

“Through this training I’m hoping to gain the technical knowledge of how to run tourism businesses. I can learn a lot through working here, but there’s also the technical and management aspects of the job that you can’t necessarily learn solely on the job.

“I’d love to be a manager here in a few years. After some time in Auckland, I returned to work at the hotel because my family is in the area and it’s an amazing place to call home.”

For more information about ATTTO and workplace training, visit www.attto.org.nz

ENDS

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