Cassandra Edgar and Kelly Golding were excited to work at an exclusive hotel in China. 43169 Picture: Donna Oates
By Kara Irving
TWO Cranbourne students are flying high after being selected to do work placement in a five-star hotel in China.
Kelly Golding and Cassandra Edgar, who are both studying a Diploma of Events at Chisholm Institute, won a VET mobility scholarship for two week’s work experience at the Intercontinental Hotel in Shenzhen, Southern China last year.
The girls worked in the housekeeping department of the hotel, which included maintaining and cleaning guest rooms and helping with the laundry.
“Everyone at the hotel was so friendly and welcoming,” said Kelly, “There have been a few language issues – all we knew how to say was ‘hello’ and ‘thankyou’ in Mandarin – but all the managers knew English so we got by”.
“It was a really great experience,” added Cassandra. “China is a very different culture to Australia in a lot of ways, for instance in food, language, religion and family structure. Also in China people smoke anywhere they like!”
The girls were selected for the trip after filling out an application form expressing their interest working overseas, with their grades and attendance taken into account.
Two other students Jason Waugh and Bilal Baif from Chisholm’s Mechatronics program also spent time studying in Malaysia as a part of the program.
Worth more than $35,000, the girls helped raise an additional $850 by hosting a trivia night at the Chisholm Frankston Bunurong training restaurant.
The government initiated VET Outbound Mobility program aims to provide Australian TAFE students with international study experience.
The program gives students the chance to work in China, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Japan or Indonesia.
