Macksville's Samantha Kearney named top first year apprentice for specialised textiles in Australia

Personal circumstances and family tragedy converged to deal her an impossible blow in her senior year at Macksville High School.

She had to get out of Dodge...and fast, meaning Sam never completed her high schooling.

For many kids heading along a similar life trajectory, this would have been the full stop at the end of a tragic tale.

But not for our Sam.

Despite coming from a familial background of entrenched unemployment in a region which sadly boasts the highest rate of youth unemployment in the state and the second highest in Australia, Sam was determined to make something of herself.

After heading to Sydney at the end of 2017, she eventually stumbled across a job opportunity for an apprentice in the specialised textiles industry and thought 'why not?'.

Applying could possibly turn out to be the best decision of her life.

She emphatically got the job at the time-honoured EH Brett; where others waded through weeks-long trials, Sam was formally hired after her third shift.

And for the past thirteen months she has been learning the ins and outs of an industry she's quickly fallen in love with.

On a day-to-day basis Sam is responsible for creating custom-designed objects ranging from salvage and debris sheets for NSW Fire and Rescue, to a wicket cover for the Sydney Cricket Ground, which she finished sewing yesterday.

"When I first started I got to make a sail for the HMAS Parramatta," she said.

"And we have a military contract where we use state-of-the-art textile technology which I think is pretty cool.

Sam said you never would have guessed her current career path if you saw her textiles handiwork in high school.

"I wasn't good at sewing - I was terrible, actually. I felt so bad for my teacher," she said.

"But I enjoy art and I like the design process."

And that's the great thing about her chosen trade - "you get to use both your head and your hands".

She has radiated enthusiasm and taken to the work like a duck to water - so much so that her TAFE teacher suggested she register for an industry-wide competition.

All first-year apprentices who applied were tasked with designing a duffel bag and writing a justification of their chosen process and materials to accompany it.

Sam was inspired by her childhood camping experiences out at Gumma and designed a duffel bag out of olive-coloured 505g/square metre poly/cotton-blended canvas, for "weatherability and durability".

For the thread she chose "polyester-cotton thread as it swells and seals the stitch holes making the bag water-resistant". And she finished it off with black seatbelt webbing for handles.

On June 12, Sam flew to the Gold Coast to attend the Specialised Textiles Association's SuperExpo and awards night.

"I was nervous all night," she said.

But she needn't have been. Sam was crowned the top level 1 apprentice in Australia for her industry.

The accolade is especially poignant, given Sam operates within an incredibly male-dominated workforce.

"I feel really good about it. On the night the wives of the men who work in the industry all approached me and were thanking me for doing what I'm doing," she said.

She still gets frustrated when her male co-workers subtly undermine her ability based solely on her gender, but she's forging ahead regardless.

"My goals now are to work on some really big projects and be the best at what I do," she said.

With this incredible achievement in her first year in her very first job, she's certainly on her way to brilliance.

Go Sam!

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