The WA Training Awards were held on Friday, September 17 at Crown Perth. Guests were invited to support apprentices, trainees, RTOs and hosting businesses in a variety of awards categories presented throughout the evening.
This year Programmed had the pleasure of supporting Sterling Winmar, an ex-Programmed NETTS apprentice hosted by Shell Australia, who was nominated as a finalist in the WA Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Apprentice of the Year category.
Sterling is now a fully qualified Instrumentation Electrician, graduating from the program at the start of this year. During his 3rd year in the program, Sterling was seconded to Upstream Production Solutions, and having made a good impression, Upstream offered him a full-time role at the MITSUI Facility in Dongara where Sterling has worked since March this year.
Sterling is a proud Aboriginal man belonging to the Ballardong Language Group from Quairading in WA’s Wheatbelt Region. He moved to Perth from Waroona to be a part of the NETTS Program in 2017 and has always found his motivation in making his family proud of his achievements. He is a bright, outgoing and entertaining young man, who makes friends wherever life takes him. During his time in the program, he showed support to his peers and younger apprentices, often joining the NETTS Training Coordinators for their school talks and featuring in promotional material for the program. He is a great ambassador for First Nations People and is proud of his roots and his journey to getting where he is today.
Sterling decided to submit an application for WA Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Apprentice of the Year after seeing one of his teammates, Bethany Clarke (from the NETTS 2016 Intake) take home the WA Apprentice of the Year Award last year. Bethany was there to show her support on the night along with some of Sterling’s friends, family and teammates. Programmed Training Coordinators Lucie Alexander, Stephanie Kay and Meg Flanigan and Shell representative Douwe deVries were also there to cheer him on.
Although Sterling didn’t take home the main prize of the evening, we are all very proud of his placement as a finalist and consider him to be a shining example of a NETTS graduate. He was a pleasure to manage during his time with Programmed and we wish him every success in the future.
