Our National Apprenticeship Week celebrations finished with a bang after one of our apprentices scooped up an award at a Bristol ceremony.
Madeleine Dampier has been completing her AAT Accounting Level 3 apprenticeship with the DoubleTree by Hilton Bristol City Centre after she opted to pursue an apprenticeship over university.
The 22-year-old said: “It’s not that university wasn’t an option but because I had no idea what I wanted to do after finishing my A Levels. I wanted to continue learning and progressing but it didn’t feel right to delve into all of that student debt without having a clear idea of what it was I wanted to do and to just go because all my friends were.”
And it turns out Maddie made the right decision. Her apprenticeship offered her real work experience and a paid qualification, ‘you literally get paid to learn’, and her success is being noticed by others.
In January, Maddie was presented with the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel’s Team Member of the Year 2021 for ‘being a great team player, helping food and beverage and the front office departments during such a challenging year’.
Maddie’s winning luck continued when she was presented with the Rising Star of the Year Award at the Bristol Hoteliers Association’s Night of the Stars Awards.
The Rising Star Award celebrates the up-and-coming of the hospitality sector and those who are showing good promise at making a difference.
Speaking about her recent award, Maddie said: “I won’t lie, winning this award has made me one happy lady indeed! I have put a lot of work and commitment into this apprenticeship and my job role at DoubleTree. A lot of apprentices tend to start out a few years’ younger and still live at home but I couldn’t wait to move to Bristol and dive in to the working world.”
Maddie has worked six to seven days a week to allow her to be fully independent with her rent and bills, although the award winner joked ‘being good with numbers’ has certainly helped her along the way.
She added: “For my hard work to pay off and to be recognised makes it very much worth it and it really means a lot to me. The whole evening was quite surreal and I honestly hadn’t expected to win as the talent in the Bristol hotel industry is incredible.”
Not only will the two award wins stand out on Maddie’s CV but she is now setting her sights on progressing with DoubleTree and she hopes she will ‘live up to the Rising Star title’.
Maddie is just one of the many apprentices who we celebrated during National Apprenticeship Week, with many of our learners urging other to consider apprenticeships as a route into a career.
Here are just a few other case studies from our apprentices:
Rebecca: Student realises dream of working for the NHS with apprenticeship
Danielle: Apprenticeship gives Danielle the chance to keep earning while learning
Emily: ‘Doing an apprenticeship has set me up for my future’ – from A Levels to an apprenticeship that changed my life
Lauren: Caring staff make ‘all the difference’ to HR apprentice
Louie: Apprenticeship was ‘the beginning of a successful career’ for re-training chef
Joanna: Apprentices are ‘really beneficial’ to employers to give a ‘fresh viewpoint’
You can find out more about apprenticeships and current vacancies, or for employers, find out more about hiring an apprentice.
