Four local TAFE NSW graduates have been recognised for their hard work and dedication, and secured employment in the events team at Willoughby City Council.

Diploma of Event Management TAFE NSW Ryde students Yewon Kim, Simone Carson, Aleen Pang, and TAFE NSW Northern Beaches student, Allannah Heap have achieved their career dreams. One month ago, all four graduates became fully-qualified event managers thanks to their studies at TAFE NSW and practical work experience.

Willoughby City Council General Manager Debra Just said, “Willoughby City Council is proud to be able to offer employment opportunities to TAFE NSW graduates in our dynamic events team. Yewon, Simone, Aleen and Allannah were an asset during our Chatswood Year of the Pig Festival and are a testament to the fantastic training that TAFE NSW provides in our local area.”

The graduates had the opportunity to work on a three week long cultural celebration - Chatswood Year of the Pig Festival. During this time, the graduates assisted with the overall planning and delivery of the Festival including the inaugural Lunar New Year Twilight Parade which featured more than 600 entrants.

The Festival included almost 30 events over three weeks, reaching more than 200,000 people and injecting an estimated $1.5 million into the local Chatswood economy.

TAFE NSW graduate Yewon Kim said, “It is an honour to be selected to join the events team at Willoughby City Council. Securing this role will help me to further my skills to achieve my career goals. Anyone who has been a TAFE NSW student understands the difference a significant amount of practical work experience can make towards securing your dream job, and the role at Willoughby City Council has delivered that.”

While the students could have studied the course online with TAFE Digital, the facilities at TAFE NSW Ryde and Northern Beaches was the perfect fit with dedicated learning spaces for Event Management.

In 2016, Ernst & Young estimated the events industry contributed just over $30 billion in direct expenditure, $13 billion in direct value add and nearly 200,000 jobs to the Australian economy[1].

TAFE NSW has more than 1200 courses available - from short courses to degrees - and many of them could be studied online when and where it suits students via TAFE Digital.

To find out more about studying at TAFE NSW, phone 13 16 01 or visit www.tafensw.edu.au.

To find out more about Willoughby City Council events visit www.willoughby.nsw.gov.au/whats-on/events/

Media contact: Laura Kelly, TAFE NSW Media & Communications Business Partner, 0411 777 676.