Dylan Elwood

Dylan has been interested in the building industry for some time, taking Hard Materials at school, as well as completing smaller building projects at home. When Dylan was choosing his subjects for Year 12, the Trades Academy programme seemed like a good option for extending his knowledge and skills and finding out more about the different options and pathways into the building sector.

Dylan enjoys the environment at NMIT, especially the fact that Trades students are treated like adults and are trusted and respected by their tutors. This makes learning new skills easier and more enjoyable.

A particular highlight for Dylan is that the students get to work on a large shed project in teams, as well as being able to undertake smaller individual projects that they have chosen and designed themselves. Dylan is currently building a tool box for the back of his ute. With the help of the tutors he’s drawn up the plans and is now starting to put it all together. “The equipment here in the Building Barn is great. There’s everything you need and as long as we’ve had the training for the specific tools and saws we can use whatever we need to get our project finished".

Dylan would highly recommend the programme to other students who are interested in doing something different from school. “It’s practical and hands-on, which I really like. It’s not all just theory".