At 19, Oscar Cherry had just been named Victoria's best apprentice. His response was to make sure other young tradies didn't get left behind.
The Ballarat carpenter took out a rare double at this year's awards, winning both Master Builders Victoria's Apprentice of the Year and the Regional Apprentice of the Year in the junior category. The prize was a pair of premium tool packs worth around $2,000. Rather than keep them or cash them in, Oscar is giving them away, along with $800 in workwear vouchers, turning his win into an almost $3,000 lifeline for others.
The support is going to three apprentices from disadvantaged backgrounds, each receiving close to a $1,000 leg-up at the exact moment it matters most. With many young tradies taking out loans just to buy their tools upfront, that head start can be the difference between finishing a trade and walking away from it.
What makes the gesture hit harder is why he did it. Oscar had watched mates from trade school lose their jobs as smaller businesses buckled under rising costs. When work dries up, he explains, it's the youngest and least experienced who get let go first, the "weakest link" —so plenty of apprentices start their training and never get to finish it. Having lived the grind himself, and having finished his own carpentry apprenticeship a full year ahead of schedule working alongside his dad, he wanted others to have the same shot he did.
"Having the opportunity to give a tradie a set of tools and them not having that overhead," he said, "will make their apprenticeship experience a whole lot better."
His generosity has become a rallying cry. Master Builders Victoria points out that apprentices typically earn between $640 and $1,100 a week, well short of the roughly $1,300 an average entry-level worker takes home — while rents, fuel, food and tools keep climbing. Chief of public affairs Dr Corrie Williams called Oscar's example "inspiring," but added a pointed message: it shouldn't fall to apprentices to prop each other up. The industry is urging governments to step in with measures like HELP-style loans for apprentices and retention payments for businesses that keep them on through tough times.
Oscar agrees the sector needs more than one teenager's goodwill. But his message is simple: look after the people coming up behind you. Sometimes the most inspiring thing you can do with a win is hand it to someone who needs it more.