People Focus – Lewis Thompson Passes His Apprenticeship

“I am feeling both relieved and over the moon!” Lewis is in good spirits as he talks us through his recently acquired Level 4 Civil Engineering ENGTECH qualification, something he says has made him feel “extremely proud”.

“I’m the first apprentice in company history to attain this level apprenticeship,” Lewis adds. “and in the quickest timeframe and with a distinction! I won’t lie and say it came easily – my end point assessment and the lead up to it was very stressful, but now it’s completed I’m utterly relieved and just so proud I did it! “

Lewis says this is a firm base for his future career at ACS, something which will open more options. He continues: “Now that I’m qualified, I can move around the company to explore different areas of the business.”

“I can also progress to a degree apprenticeship now with ACS – although I’m going to take some time to recover first!”

“As I’ve only just turned 19 there’s plenty of time to decide. That said, I possibly won’t wait too long as I am considering it as it’ll expand my knowledge further and that’s certainly something I want to continue to do.”

The support of the business has been key to Lewis’ success, building on ACS’ strong track record of investing in the future. “I really can’t thank ACS enough for everything they’ve done during my journey through the apprenticeship,” Lewis adds. “It’s not only a great personal accomplishment but the team are really proud of me too, which means a lot! Everyone congratulated me on my results, and their support certainly helped me to achieve a distinction. I can’t thank them enough for their ongoing support.

“My Eng tech qualification adds more to my offering now and I’m honoured to be a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) – it’s a global organisation but I believe I’m one of the youngest members at 19 – which equally fills me with pride”

Lewis says the qualification is the culmination of a years-long dream, and a family influence: “I knew from a young age that I wanted to work in construction. My dad has been a joiner and fabricator all his life, and my grandad a welder – so it feels like it’s in my blood. All of my family, friends and my girlfriend have been on this journey with me too, so they’re all ecstatic with my results. As soon as I received the news, we all went out to celebrate – it’s been such a brilliant time!

“I knew early on that an apprenticeship would be ideal for me as it allows you to learn on the job and really get to know how everything works, and I don’t think I could have found a better place to do this than ACS. I now feel a bit like my career starts a new path here at ACS – I feel more experienced, knowledgeable and I’m keen to share my journey with the new apprentices that come through the business as the years go by.

“I always want to do my family proud, and I want to do my colleagues proud too – safe to say I’ve done that with my apprenticeship, and long may it continue into my future here at ACS.”