Pair kickstart bakery careers
Aoraki Polytechnic's bakery students are enjoying the sweet
taste of success.
Olivia King and Karman Patrick have been awarded Southern
Hospitality's $2000 course costs scholarships for 2012 after
studying Aoraki's Certificate in Bakery, which was introduced for
the first time last year.
Miss King applied for the course after she moved back to Timaru
from Christchurch after the February 22 earthquake.
Her job at Specsavers ended after the quake, giving her the
opportunity to explore other career and study options, she
said.
Baking was among the options at the top of her list, so she
applied for the certificate course in the hope of kick-starting a
new career.
"I was holding my breath trying to get in, especially as it was
the first time they had done it, so I was really excited [when I
was accepted]."
She said her preferred career options had altered during the
years, but working with food was something she had always been
interested in. "[Career ideas] kind of jumped around a lot. My
family always said I would end up working in food."
The Certificate in Bakery was introduced at Aoraki in July to
cater for the skill shortage of bakers in New Zealand.
Miss King said she had enjoyed the course, which taught her a
range of new skills.
"We were doing a bit of cookery on Thursdays, which was a wee
bit challenging because it was knife skills.
"It was challenging because we were [usually] baking, not
chopping vegetables, but it was a good skill to have. I definitely
appreciated it."
She now has the Certificate in Bakery under her belt and will
start studying towards a Certificate in Patisserie next month.
Initially, she considered studying patisserie first, but settled
on bakery to build on her skills. The bakery course gave her an
introduction to patisserie, which helped her decide if it was
something she definitely wanted to get into.
"Halfway through, I decided patisserie was for me. We did a bit
of pastry work and cakes, so we got a wee taste of what kind of
things we'd be looking at. Bakery is definitely a good thing to
start with."
When she completes her studies, Miss King hopes to get work at a
cake decorating shop, and eventually wants to open her own bakery
cafe.
Fellow graduate Mrs Patrick also hopes to establish her own
bakery cafe business in the future.
However, she will continue to focus on her studies this year
with Aoraki's Certificate in Patisserie.
She said the bakery course had been a great success.
"I could never make meringues until I went on the bakery course.
I could make just about everything else."
She said the course was a great starting point for further
study.
"It was really to better my own knowledge. I've been baking
since I was quite young, but it was nice to learn new
techniques."
News that the bakery course would be offered at Aoraki from last
year came as a surprise to Mrs Patrick, who gave up her job to
study. Now, thanks to her studies, she has a new job in a bakery
cafe, but will return to the classroom next month for the
patisserie course.
ALEXIA JOHNSTON - © Fairfax
NZ News