Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE

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Racing student wins Outstanding Student award

The GOTAFE Outstanding Student of the Year Award for the Wangaratta Campus was won by National Centre for Equine Education racing student, Monica Croston from Cranbourne.

The award was presented by award sponsor Racing Victoria, represented by Education and Public Program Manager, Simone Brooks.

Monica completed the Certificate IV in Racing (Thoroughbred Owner Trainer) last year and was nominated as the overall campus award winner from a field of four other outstanding students in their fields.

Monica was nominated for the award because of her consistent high quality of work and her commitment to her training and employment. She was also the winner of the inaugural 2006 Thoroughbred Full-Time Employee of the Year award from Racing Victoria late last year.

Monica is currently the foreman for Michael Kent at Cranbourne. Not only is Monica driven and dedicated enough to combine her studies and her work but she also mentored seven trainees in the Certificate III in Racing (Advanced Stablehand), who were also working for Michael Kent.

Racing teacher Gaye Gauci says Monica's work at GOTAFE displayed her depth of knowledge and its application in her work. "She always strived to learn more, assist others to learn and promote the benefits of learning to other people," said Gaye.

Monica enjoyed taking advantage of the opportunity to combine work, study and assisting others achieve their dreams. This opportunity continues Monica on her career path of becoming a race horse trainer and learning about all aspects of the horse. She started as a young school girl working part-time with show horses before progressing to race horses with a trainer whom she credits with mentoring her through her early years.

She gained the position of Travelling Foreman with leading Australian trainer, Gai Waterhouse and had enormous responsibility with supervising the care for some of the top race horses in Australia. She also had the task of media/ public relations by completing TV, press and radio interviews about the horses she was travelling with.

Her experiences are not only limited to Australia. Last year Monica had the opportunity to travel to Ireland and work for some of the industry's leading trainers, broadening her knowledge and experiences of training race horses.

Monica would like to continue her studies by completing her Diploma of Racing and qualifications in the field of equine massage therapy and mentor/ coaching.

Over 760 students graduated from the Primary Industries, Service and Technology Divisions, the National Centre for Equine Education and Innoven at the Wangaratta Campus. The students receive recognition for completing nationally accredited courses at Advanced Diploma, Diploma and Certificates IV and III levels.