New manager for Colac TAFE campus

Her new role as manager of South West TAFE’s Colac campus will give her even more opportunity to contribute to its success.

“I love the idea of being more involved in the community and the challenge that this role is going to bring,” she said.

Born and bred in Colac, Ms Harris started her working career as a hairdresser. For the past 10 years, she has worked for Bulla Dairy Foods in Colac, starting as a product handler and progressing into a continuous improvement role before being promoted to production facilitator and more recently maintenance planner.

“I was looking for a change,” she said. “The education sector has always been an interest to me and I liked the idea of helping local people to obtain certificates here rather than travelling.

“We will continue to look at ways to grow the local offer so people don’t have to travel out of town. I think Colac is big enough to be able to do that.”

The Colac campus offers courses in agriculture, horticulture, individual support, disability and allied health services as a VET-DSS course for high school students.

“It’s a good selection and we will continue to work with the local community, industry and agriculture to support them with courses they need,” Ms Harris said.

“The Colac campus has been gradually growing and there are now 123 students on campus and in local traineeships and apprenticeships.”

Ms Harris is balancing her full-time job with raising two children with her fiancée Jye, Frankie, about to turn one, and Kolby, two and a half.

“It’s been going great; they love day care and it’s all working out very well,” she said.