Melanie Ransley is combining her two loves: carpentry and education. She has already completed a Certificate IV in Building and Construction, and she has two years left studying a Bachelor of Education (Applied Learning) at the University of Tasmania.
Melanie manages to balance her work as a Sub-foreman for Fairbrother, a large construction company, with part-time study. She says this is thanks to flexible online learning and teaching support.
Being able to study online is the only way I’ve been able to find a balance with work and study. It can get challenging to juggle sometimes, but if you plan ahead and keep up to date with all your work it’s normally alright... the unit coordinators are great and always really helpful.
Her hard work and determination have paid off. Recently, Melanie won both the Tasmanian state and the national Apprentice of The Year Award. This made her the first woman to win the national award and the second Tasmanian woman to win the state award.
It is a pretty surreal experience, I have always been hopeful that I might have a chance for this award, but I never really thought I would win it. It is really exciting and feels great to be recognised for a lot of hard work.
Melanie has her sights set on becoming a foreman, and on using her Bachelor of Education (Applied Learning) to combine both her teaching and carpentry skills together.
At the moment I am happy in the construction industry and would like to work hard to step up to a Foreman position in the near future. After that, only time will tell. I may decide to start my own business, or venture into teaching, combine the two.. Teaching is something I’ve always wanted to do.
Become the teacher you want to be with the University of Tasmania's professionally accredited and nationally recognised Bachelor of Education (Applied Learning).