Apprenticeship Awards

A p p r e n t i c e s h i p h i g h e s t A c h i e v e m e n t A w A r d s 2 0 1 4 - 03 R ed Seal cook and res- taurateur Derek Woy- chyshyn has always had a close relationship with food. He learned early on how meat and produce get from the field to the dinner table and the pre- serve pantry, and his experiences in his mother's kitchen helped to inspire his career choice. "I attribute it to growing up on a farm where we didn't have a lot of money and we were self-sufficient, so we had our own garden, we had our own pigs and cows and chickens," he says. A 1999 Assiniboine Com- munity College (ACC) grad, Woychyshyn obtained a Red Seal for the trade of cook in 2002. In partnership with Ap- prenticeship Manitoba, he's helped six more ACC gradu- ates earn Red Seal certification over the past eight years at his downtown Brandon restaurant, Komfort Kitchen. "I've got another guy waiting in the wings to sign up too. He just graduated last year," he says, adding he's happy to help increase the number of skilled chefs in the food industry. "Once they graduate from the college through the pre- employment program, they need to collect 5,400 hours of work experience, which equates to 2.5 years of full-time labour. They sign up for apprenticeship with Apprenticeship Manitoba, I sign up with my Red Seal number as their trainer and then they just basically go through the motions day-to-day — get- ting experience, getting better, learning new things." Woychyshyn, who was hon- oured with ACC's Distin- guished Alumni Award in 2011, employs seven full-time cooks at Komfort Kitchen. A hot spot for hearty breakfasts and lunches in a historic building at 835 Princess Ave., the kitchen turns out everything from clas- sic steak-and-eggs to apple-ma- ple turkey burgers, poutine and tantalizing desserts. "It's a lot of from-scratch food, so there's cold-kitchen stuff, there's catering, there's hot-line experience and we do our own desserts, so they get a wide range of cooking experi- ence," he says. While the menu is contempo- rary and creative, Woychyshyn says classic meat-and-potatoes meals — "good food, served hot" — are Komfort Kitchen's stock in trade, and it's impor- tant to be consistent. "It's the same every time and the same portion every time. Cooking is all about consisten- cy," he says. Komfort Kitchen also han- dles catering for everything from small business events to weddings. Woychyshyn's wife Heather is the catering coordi- nator and general manager for the restaurant, which opened in February, 2005. An expansion in 2009 increased space in the kitchen and dining area, boost- ing seating capacity from 47 to 80, but Woychyshyn didn't ex- pand the hours. The restaurant is open from 8 a.m. - 4 p.m., which lets him keep a family- friendly schedule. "I'll do what I can to help other people better themselves so they can get in the same position that I'm in," he says. "And that in turn will help Ap- prenticeship Manitoba, because they want more designated trained people in the field." EmployEr of thE yEar (rural) Derek Woychyshyn/Komfort Kitchen CONGRATULATIONS! CONGRATULATIONS! CONGRATULATIONS! CONGRATULATIONS! Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technology would like to congratulate the nominees and winners of the 2014 ApprenticeshipAwardsofDistinction.HavingprovidedManitoba'sfutureapprenticeswithhands-ontrainingfor29 years,ManitobaInstitureofTradesandTechnologyishonouredtocontinuetobeachosensourceofaccreditation forthemenandwomenwhoaredestinedtobecometheleadersofourskilledtradesindustries. MITT.ca 204.989.6500 Apprenticeship Manitoba Apprenticeship AwArds of distinction 2014 D an Mckenzie grew up knowing he wanted to work in the trades. And as the owner of Mckenzie Electric Ltd., he is happy to say he's doing the work he always wanted to do — and doing it so well he's being honoured by Apprenticeship Manitoba. Mckenzie's youthful ambition was cemented by a class he was fortunate enough to be offered in high school. "We had a program called Co-op Ed (Cooperative Educa- tion)," he says. "We were able to go work at a company — wherever we wanted to go, to do whatever interested us." That led him not only to a placement for his high school class, but to a company where he would later complete some of his own apprenticeship. "I actually went to Winnipeg Supply, where I got to work with electricians, plumbers, heating (people), all the trades." One of the best things that happened was that the trades- people he shadowed had enough confidence in him to give him a chance to get his hands dirty. "Whatever needed to be done, they let me get my hands on it, as long as it was safe," he says. "They let me carry equip- ment in, put things together, even installing air conditioners — whatever they were doing that day." Mckenzie has been in busi- ness for himself for 11 years, and for nine of those years he's been providing apprentice- ships. But he hasn't forgotten his early hands-on experience. He says he trains the way he was trained. "I'll tell them, 'OK, wire this, wire that, we'll inspect it and if it's done wrong we'll see what you did and we'll show you how to do it right,' " he says. "I like to get people in to learn as much as they can as fast as they can take it." Mckenzie recognizes that ap- prenticeship is a two-way street, with the up-and-comers walk- ing in with a few new tricks of their own. Even though he works hard to stay current, he says he's picked up a few things from his apprentices who are still in school and learning new techniques. "They keep me up to date. I usually teach them more, but every once in a while, they give me something," he says, laughing. And while he gets satisfaction knowing he's providing valu- able work experience to young people who will influence the future of the trades, he still enjoys the day-to-day to work with his customers. "I just like it because you get to work with your hands to cre- ate things, make things work, but especially because you re- ally do get to help people." EmployEr of thE yEar (urban) Dan Mckenzie / mcKenzie electric ltd. made me very proud because they took first and second place respectively. The other ap- prentice that we had in the competition took sixth," he says. "From that competition, they were invited to compete at the international level, and they fared very well." With a strong commitment to the trade, Chetyrbok continues to share his knowledge with the next generation of ironworkers. "I'm here to invest in the youth of this trade and prepare them the best I can for the real world and their career." » INSTRUCTOR OF THE YEAR CONT.

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