Danny Chan
James Corral has been named the South Australian Apprentice of the Year at the 2020 AIRAH SA Apprenticeship Awards.
Sponsored by ActronAir, the awards were held virtually this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The AIRAH SA Apprenticeship Awards were created to spot and encourage outstanding individuals working as an HVAC Apprentice in the region. As in previous years, the Apprentice of the Year also received a $1,000 tool voucher sponsored by CPS Tools.
“I am absolutely stoked and very flattered,” says the 24-year-old. “I didn’t think that I would win at all.”
An apprentice air conditioning and refrigeration technician at VIP Air Conditioning since 2017, Corral says it was the abundant training opportunities in HVAC that first attracted him to the industry.
“It’s a trade where there is so much to learn and it just keeps growing,” he says.
“The more I learn, the more I realise that there’s a lot more that I don’t know – so that keeps me going.”
By coincidence, Corral’s boss at VIP Air Conditioning was the recipient of the SA Apprentice of the Year Award 20 years ago.
“Jamie told me it was time to make some room on the VIP couch,” Corral says.
“He was pretty stoked to hear that I won. He congratulated me and just told me to do my best.”
The other 2020 AIRAH SA Apprenticeship Awards winners were:
- Runner Up Apprentice of the Year – Ashlee Seymour from Williams Ref’n & Air Con
- Encouragement Award – Josh Elliot from BHP Billiton Ltd
- Airefrig Scholarship – Jayson James from Technichill.
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