From Fights At School To Success At A Local Butchers

Fifteen-year-old Emily Eggleston struggled with school from the beginning, disliking the environment and facing numerous challenges in education. After an altercation with another student, Emily decided that traditional schooling was not the right fit for her:
“I went, I don't really want to do this anymore, I'm going to do something better.”
Before the incident, Emily’s school had told her about the PCYC Get Set for Work program, a program that funds intensive employment and training assistance to young, disengaged Queenslanders aged 15–19 years. The teachers had mentioned previously that this might be a good opportunity for Emily.
At first Emily was adamant that the program was not for her:
“I thought about it, and I didn't really want to go.”
However, after the fight she decided to call up PCYC and got accepted.
After going through the program Emily now has a whole new outlook on PCYC:
“They got me a trade and helped me; they took me pretty much everywhere that I needed to go to hand in resumes."
Emily now works at Master Butchers Whitsunday and is really enjoying the work she does there. She emphasised how she wanted to work as a butcher from a young age but was not allowed to:
“It was always in the back of my mind. I wanted to do something in agriculture, something to do with Butchering so when the opportunity came up, I was very excited about it.”
Emily is really happy with how far she has come with the program:
“I'm really enjoying my apprenticeship and PCYC is great for anyone who's looking for a job who can't find one on their own”.
“Get Set for Work is one of eight programs that make up the Queensland Government’s Skilling Queenslanders for Work initiative.”

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Emily Eggleston, outside her new workplace.

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