Horticulture apprentice Rebekah Tottle’s passion for all that’s green has been recognised with an award from Gordon TAFE.
The 23-year-old Bacchus Marsh resident says she was surprised to win the college’s best first-year apprenticeship award in horticulture, though she admits she had to work hard.
“I was at home with the flu when they told me and I felt heaps better. I was pretty happy.”
For Rebekah, an avid camping and fishing enthusiast while growing up in Redan, developing a green thumb came naturally.
“I love the outdoors, and a lot of my own activities involve the outdoors,’’ Rebekah says.
‘‘It [working outdoors] helps me engage all of my passions, and I wanted to be part of preserving the environment for future generations to enjoy, because it can’t speak for itself. It needs to be nurtured.”
Rebekah, who works in Moorabool council’s parks and gardens service, works across the shire but is most proud of the garden beds she maintains at council’s Darley offices. “Those are my garden beds. I maintain them and look after them. I’ve just pulled out the petunias and replaced them with primulas for winter.”
Before her apprenticeship, Rebekah completed a six-month conservation and land management traineeship with CVGT’s national green jobs corps program.
Peter Mead, a training consultant with CVGT – a training and employment group – believes Rebekah is set for a bright future. “She’s really enthusiastic. She deserves the award,” Mr Mead said.
Rebekah plans to continue broadening her knowledge with a certificate IV in horticulture and a degree in conservation.
