A bright future for award-winning apprentice Braedyn

After attending local primary and secondary schools, Braedyn landed an apprenticeship just an eight-minute walk from home and enjoys his sense of independence.

“I love being able to walk to work. I don’t need to drive or depend on public transport,” he says.

Braedyn joined local company Woods Glass as an apprentice machinist straight from high school. He’d been studying carpentry for five years and was keen to get into a technology trade. Through his school’s work experience programme, he started spending one day a week at Woods Glass and was delighted to secure a full-time position towards the end of Year 12.

“I was quite shocked because I didn’t really expect it, it was more than I had dreamed of. It seemed to happen very quickly and suddenly I could be independent.

“It was a great feeling to make my family proud. As soon as I told my mum, the waterworks started,” he laughs.

Braedyn admits he also found the transition from school to the workplace nerve-wracking.

“Going into a workplace for the first time was a bit scary because there are people you don’t know and here there is a lot of machinery. I was pretty nervous for my first few months.

Braedyn works closely with his supervisor Sammy (left) pictured here with manager Steven.

“Now I’ve been here two years, I’d tell any high schooler not to be put off by nerves. It gets easier every day; you just have to give it a go and take the opportunity to learn. I’m not nervous anymore, in fact, my workmates are like one big family. I have my home family and my work family.

“We work in teams with everyone helping each other out. My supervisor Sammy is a great guy, he’s become my mentor. At break times, we chat about anything and everything. He’s actually my favourite part of the job”.

Sammy says he’s impressed with Braedyn’s progress since joining the company two years ago. “He is always willing to help out and he can quickly sense what needs to be done. I can see Braedyn becoming a supervisor then going further in his career.”

Sammy says he and Braedyn enjoy a special friendship. “We talk about our families and what we’ve been up to. We help each other with problems.”

Company manager Steven agrees. “Braedyn’s work ethic won him a company values award. Every four months, we hold a “Town Hall”, a celebration to acknowledge great work and Braedyn received an award for commitment. When his supervisor was away on holiday, Braedyn stepped up to manage the CNC (Automated aluminium milling) machine which was far beyond what we could have expected of him at that stage. We were so impressed.”

Supporting his whānau is important to Braedyn. He spends a lot of his time either at home with his mother and sisters or visiting his grandparents.

“It wasn’t easy for my mum to bring up us kids on her own so it’s nice to be able to help out now that I’m working.”

“I’ve had a lot of support from Kāinga Ora and my school and my employers, so it feels good to be able to give back.”