Dragen Cameron is at home away from the classroom and in the kitchen at Orbost Regional Health.
The apprentice chef, 16, left Orbost Community College last year, joining ORH four months ago.
“I was not enjoying school at all. It wasn’t something for me, and I’ve always really enjoyed cooking, so I thought it would be good to get a job,” he said.
“To start with, my mum wasn’t on board with me leaving school. She thought I was just dropping out because I didn’t like school, which was a big factor, but I showed that I was really committed to doing the apprenticeship and finding a job.”
“During year 10, I did a couple of work experiences in hospitality and after that my parents were pretty convinced that I would do well in an apprenticeship.”
Dragen is following in the footsteps of his father, Damo, who works at the Marlo Bait and Tackle Cafe.
“He was a big inspiration for me to get into cooking,” he said.
With his course work completed online through Melbourne-based vocational training college AVTES, Dragen has dedicated himself to improving his cookery skills.
“It’s just learning a bunch of new skills and getting better at what I already know. I’ve definitely gotten a lot better with my knife skills over the past four months,” he said.
Is there a down side?
“It’s probably just the early starts,” he said.
“It’s going to take me a while to get used to that. I start at 6.30am, but I usually get in a little earlier to get things started on time. So, I’m usually waking up at 5am.”
Despite being the youngest person in the kitchen staff, Dragen said the team works well together and supports his professional growth.
“It’s great. The kitchen is quite small, and everyone knows each other. The head chef Rob has helped a lot in teaching me the correct ways of doing things. Gail finished her apprenticeship last year and I really enjoy learning from her in the kitchen,”
he said.
“Most other people are quite a bit older than me. The closest to my age is Chloe, who’s 18 and doing a traineeship here. I’m the only kid in the kitchen but I am an only child. I’ve always had adults around, so I get along with adults pretty well.”
If all goes well, Dragen hopes to finish his apprenticeship in less than three years with skills that will take him around the world.
“My main goal is to do quite a bit of work travelling. I know that pretty much everywhere is looking for a chef, so that’s quite an easy way for me to get to different places. After that, I’m thinking of going into offshore work, like the fly-in, fly-out sort of work (on the Bass Strait oil and gas rigs), which will probably be similar to hospital work with mass catering applications.”
Dragen said he would recommend an apprenticeship with ORH to anyone.
“They’ve done really well in supporting me, and they seem to do that with a lot of new employees. For other people my age looking to get jobs, it’s quite good to get one here,” he said.
“My main problem with school was that it was giving me the pressures but none of the mental reward. I was doing heaps of work but not finding the use for it. Whereas here, I’m doing heaps of work, but I
know I’m working towards my future.”
ORH chief executive officer Vicki Farthing said it’s great to see local young people starting their careers
with ORH.
“Dragen is one of many young people who are building their careers and their skills with us,” Vicki said.
“We are the largest employer in this region, and we’re giving back
to our community by upskilling local people
and helping to strengthen the local economy.
“Dragen is a popular young staff member. We love to see our people learn and grow, and Dragen is doing so well in our kitchen.”
