Coroplast Global | News | 09 Jun 2023 Ready, set, raft! The Apprentice Team Day 2023

With its annual Apprentice Team Day, the Coroplast Group encourages its young industrial and commercial talents to work together. This year, everything revolved around building a raft - and setting sail with it.

Apprentice team on a self-made raft — Excitement: The successful raft builders can barely wait to set off for their trip on Lake Baldeney

Location Essen, Lake Baldeney

A cheerful atmosphere, valuable discussions, an exciting challenge - this is how the team day of the almost 30 Coroplast apprentices can be summed up.

The apprentice team day began in bright weather with a joint breakfast on the shores of Lake Baldeney in Essen. After introductions and a question and answer session on the day's activities, the time had come: four teams were formed and the raft-building adventure could begin.

Apprentices building rafts — Challenge: Connecting the three floats using bamboo tubes and ropes required great skill in planning and implementation.

A very nice day indeed! The apprentices had the opportunity to get to know each other better. Everyone was able to contribute their personal strengths and in the end all teams managed to build a functional raft.
Melanie Resch | HR Specialist Apprentices Professionals

The four rafts of the apprentices on the beach, seen from the air — The four apprentice teams took very different approaches for the construction and were all impressively creative.

Plenty room for creativity

Three floats, large quantities of rope and bamboo sticks - these were the materials our apprentice teams had to use to build a seaworthy raft. Creativity, cooperation and communication were required. With a lot of team spirit, they planned, tried, changed - and with a few decisive expert tips from our event partner Deepwood , everyone finally had a seaworthy solution with which they could go to the start.

The rafts of the apprentice teams are launched into the water — Thrill: Whether the various constructions really worked only became apparent in the water. All the rafts proved to be absolutely seaworthy.

Apprentice team on the move with the raft on Lake Baldeney — Multitasking: On the return trip, the teams not only had to arrive safely, but also write a poem along the way.

The teams mastered the trip with flying colors and picked up another task in the middle of the lake: By the time they returned to shore, each crew was to write a 9-line poem.

This was not the end of the versatility challenge: After sailing communication game was played in which each apprentice was given a picture card that no one else was allowed to see. Only by describing the motif did the teams have to put the cards in the right order.

Having barbecue together an exciting day come to an end. After all, our apprentices had a lot to talk about after three exciting challenges.

Apprentices building the raft and connecting the floats with bamboo sticks for this purpose — Teamwork: A mix of a straightforward plan, effective communication, some improvisational skills and a great sense of humor led the teams to success.

Group photo of the participants of the Apprentice Team Day 2023 in front of their rafts — Outstanding winners: All participants have something to be proud of. They all helped to make Apprentice Team Day 2023 a wonderful experience.

Sense of community and teamwork

All apprentices took the opportunity on Team Day to network and strengthen their sense of community. They tested their personal limits, discovered unexpected potential and gained new experience in the areas of teamwork and communication. And last but not least, the day was great fun for everyone involved. We are already looking forward to the Apprentice Team Day 2024!

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