A Yeovil College apprenticeship offers the challenge to travel the world

Monday, November 20, 2017

A Yeovil college apprentice has had the opportunity to travel the world as part of his course – and says the experience has been ‘surreal’.

Dan Holt, formerly of Beaminster School, is currently studying a Level 3 Diploma in Creative & Digital Media Apprenticeship with Crystal Classic Fine Materials.

During his time with Crystal Classics, he has visited Zurich, Switzerland to pick up a valuable collection in an underground vault; Vienna, Austria, to pick up another large collection. Dan has also visited Tucson, Arizona and Denver, Colorado in America, Saint Marie aux Mines, France, & Munich, Germany for the annual gem and mineral shows and in the coming months he will be visiting Australia for a mining project

The talented apprentice has now secured a job with the company once he completes his apprenticeship in December.

Dan said “All of the shows have been amazing, recently I have been working with flash lighting in my photography, and with the help of Olga, she has taught me everything, and I am really proud of my work. To have found a job like this, in a place like this is crazy. It’s hard enough to find a job in photography, let alone an Apprenticeship, so that made this even more surreal.”

He added: “I decided I didn’t want to go to university, so when I was looking for jobs I looked on the Apprenticeship website, saw this job, and because I did photography at sixth form, and as it is one of my main hobbies I just jumped at the opportunity, as it allowed me to learn the more commercial side of the art.

“The team at Yeovil College I have worked with, and my assessor Steve Minshall, have all been amazing. I have been given so much freedom to explore and try new things, without feeling pressured in anyway. I think it’s all down to the communication, and the way the units are handled.”

Steve Minshall, Assessor/Programme Manager of Creative & Design Industries, said “Dan has been a model Creative and Digital Media apprentice. He has gained a wealth of experience and technical skills in a cutting edge work environment. He has also travelled widely around the world to Europe, America and Australia. At the same time he has completed an NVQ, Technical Certificate and Functional skills qualifications through Yeovil College.”

Media, Art and Design is thriving at Yeovil College and learners leave ready to work in the creative industries with impressive portfolios. The college combine strong practical education with excellence in academic teaching to encourage reflective, critical artists, designers and media specialists. Students are surrounded by artists, designers and producers in our workshops and studios.

Many learners go on to higher education, or into employment, often in their chosen creative field or something similar and we have some well-known alumni such as musician PJ Harvey and fashion designer Alice Temperley.

Yeovil College has been serving the community in and around Yeovil for 130 years. The College was first formed in 1887 when Somerset County Council began formally organising Science and Art classes in Yeovil. In 1947, the first Principal was appointed to lead Yeovil Technical College and when secondary education in the Yeovil Borough was reorganised in 1974, Yeovil College became one of the early tertiary colleges to be formed in England.

Today, Yeovil College remains passionate about its role as a key provider of education and training in South Somerset and North and West Dorset. It remains committed to its role as a tertiary college for the whole community and currently supports around 5000 full and part-time students.

For more information on Yeovil College courses, please visit www.yeovil.ac.uk.

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