Community
6 June, 2025
TAFE students aim for national honours
A RECORD six South West TAFE students will be vying for national honours in Australia’s peak competition for trainees and apprentices
The six students to reach the national WorldSkills finals are Warrnambool-based Maisie Rentsch (beauty therapy), Lachlan King (carpentry), Chloe Graham (cookery) and Zemma Wright (makeup services) and Portland’s Claire Bullock (hairdressing) and Jacob Sanderson (metals and engineering).
WorldSkills competitions are an opportunity for Australia’s trainees and apprentices to test their skills and knowledge in their chosen field against their peers.
The 2025 National Championships and Skills Show will be held on June 12-16 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The South West TAFE students progressed to the national finals after winning their regional competitions last October.
Zemma Wright will be the only Victorian competing for the newly created makeup services title, while Chloe Graham will be a finalist for the second time in her cookery category after previously reaching the national finals in 2023.
It is anticipated there will be about 600 competitors participating in 60 skills categories at the finals.
As the only Victorian in the national finals, Zemma Wright admits she’s equally nervous and excited about competing.
“I’ve had to learn some new skills over the past couple of months to cover the extra challenges at the finals,” Zemma said.
Zemma completed the make-up course last year and is continuing with hairdressing this year.
“I want to get in the beauty industry in some form but I’m not too sure exactly where as yet,” she said.
For Maisie Rentsch, the opportunity to compete at a national event will be a great opportunity to network and learn from new friends.
“I’m so excited and feel so incredibly lucky to go to Brisbane,” she said.
“It’s an amazing opportunity whether I win or not.”
Ms Rentsch is nearing the end of her Diploma of Beauty Therapy at South West TAFE’s Warrnambool campus and hopes to eventually operate her own beauty therapy business.
“The course has been really good and I’ll be sad when it ends,” she said.
“I’ve learnt so much and made friendships for life.”
Ms Rentsch said she had wanted to do make up since she was a little girl.
“I had always thought I’d go off to university but when I started doing VCAL in year 11, I found out about all these wonderful opportunities at TAFE and everything fell into place. This is really what I wanted to do.”
Chloe Graham has tasted the competition and is keen to return for another bite.
Now qualified as a chef and working at Café Lava since her last experience in 2023, Ms Graham hopes to take the next step.
“The experience last time was amazing and I learnt so much from everyone I met,” she said.
“I’m now qualified and I’m definitely a better chef than I was back then so I’m looking forward to the competition. You can only compete if you’re 23 or under so this will be my last nationals.”
Team leader and hair and beauty teacher Kate McBain said it was a great achievement for so many local students to reach the national finals.
“The skill of people coming through the various trades is fabulous,” Ms McBain said.
“It’s amazing to be recognised as one of the 10 best in your field in Australia and it’s great for our region to have so many students representing us on the national stage.”
The students have been training for months under the guidance of a mentor, and as members of the Victorian team attended an intense training session in Melbourne on May 18-19.
