FITEC's Trainee of the Year

Trainee of the Year Kirk Bruce kept it in the family when he accepted his award from Gary McCormack at Rotorua in May 2001 - his 2 year old son came up on stage with him.

At 19, Kirk has been in the bush for 4 years, so he'd had plenty of practical experience. And his on-the-job Trainers were really supportive (including one who even let his Trainees come to his home after hours to do the theory and written work).

As Kirk says, working in the family business he had lots of family support - and no chance to slack off! But he certainly did put in the effort. He did the training while working normal hours and living in Whangarei - a two hour round trip each day to work and back.

Despite the hard work, gaining his National Certificates (in Forestry Harvesting Level 3, Forestry Ground Based Extraction Level 4, and Forestry Log Loading Level 4) and the excitement of winning the award, have made it all worthwhile.