Good on you Josie

The Cook Islands can be well proud of Josie Rattle’s remarkable achievement in being awarded the World’s Top Food and Beverage City and Guilds International Medal for attaining the highest distinction mark in the 2009 Food and Beverage exam.
A special ceremony to mark her stunning achievement was held at the Hospitality centre in Turangi on Friday morning.
The Minister for Tourism Hon Teina Bishop attended (his speech is also in this issue).
The City and Guilds’ Medals for Excellence recognizes and rewards exceptional people whose work makes them really stand out. City and Guilds offer qualifications in over 100 countries to approximately 1.8 million learners. There are only 60 Medal’s for Excellence Awards per year.
Josephine achieved the highest distinction mark for Food and Beverage out of all the countries in the world offering City and Guilds.
Josephine achieved this outcome while studying at HTTC Wellington Institute of Technology (WelTec) Food and Beverage programme. The partnership between HTTC and WelTec was established in 2008. “To achieve an International Award in such a short time is a credit to Josephine and recognizes the quality and strength of this partnership”, said Cherie Freeman, WelTec Head of Hospitality and Tourism,
“It is a great privilege to recognize the hard work and commitment that Josephine has demonstrated during her training. The City and Guilds Medal for Excellence is an opportunity for Josephine to be nominated for the prestigious City and Guilds Lion Award. This is an all expenses trip to represent the Cook Islands and Pacific Region at a Grand Awards Dinner” said Glenn Fulcher, General Manager City and Guilds New Zealand.
Josie’s award will bring her international attention and she will have no difficulty obtaining work in any country.
On behalf of the government, Bishop presented Josie with a free ticket to Aitutaki with two night accommodation and a free lagoon cruise.
The Times congratulates Josie and wishes her well for the future.

Headlines : Times 290 02 March 2009
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