STUDENT’S GRATITUDE FOR EXPERIENTIAL TRAINING

Caryn Classen, a student at CPUT, who recently completed her six months’ experiential training at Casidra, expressed her gratitude as follows;

“As a student, it is always good to put theory into practice. Therefore, as a third year Office Management and Technology student I had the opportunity to do just that. I had to complete my six months’ experiential training at a company to gain experience within what we call “the real world”, which as we know is the adult working life. I completed my experiential training at a Project Management Company called Casidra SOC Ltd, which is the acronym for Cape Agency for Sustainable Development in Rural Areas.

 

Casidra is an official implementing agency for the Western Cape Department of Agriculture. A wide spectrum of various projects across the Western Cape are managed and implemented, such as three government-owned farms, Waaikraal Farm, Amalienstein Farm and Anhalt Farm. Waaikraal is known for its tomato production, Amalienstein as a dairy farm and Anhalt for their exporting of delicious apples. I had the amazing opportunity to visit all the farms on a frequent basis. It was interesting to see how effectively these farms are managed by the three Farm Managers working for Casidra.

As a student, I have gained a lot of valuable experience during my experiential training within this organisation. I had a lot of exposure to a variety of different office administration tasks such as attending meetings,  writing/compiling minutes, events organising and day-to-day engagements with service providers/suppliers through emails, telephonic communication, etc.  I assisted most of the clients/visitors effectively and efficiently at the switchboard and reception area. I managed to pull through all the challenging tasks which I faced.  I felt so excited and eager to learn new things on a daily basis and every new experience made me feel proud and happy for the fortunate position that I was placed in.

I’ve experienced and learnt office etiquette and how I must conduct myself within the working environment. First impressions count the most and that professional eye contact and handshakes are very important as well as the way you talk to colleagues, clients and visitors. I learned that asking questions within the working environment is very important because it shows your determination to want to gain knowledge, and what I’ve also learned is that you should not be afraid to make mistakes because it is through those mistakes that you learn and improve.

Through this article, I value and appreciate every moment and memory created and gained. I would like to thank the Cape Peninsula University of Technology for giving students the opportunity to experience life within the working environment.  Most importantly, I am very thankful to Casidra for giving me the opportunity to complete my experiential training. I honour and applaud Casidra for the amazing work they do within the Western Cape to change the lives of the communities. I feel so blessed and grateful to have worked at such an inspiring organisation with a great team of employees”.