Sunny reaps rewards in move from translating to horticulture

A FORMER translator turned local business owner with a love of gardening has been named the Bendigo TAFE Student of the Year.

Ying (Sunny) Zhao was among more than 50 vocational students and apprentices who were celebrated at the 2025 Bendigo TAFE Industry Excellence Awards last week.

A former baker from Rochester, Bethany Knight, was named the Inspirational Student of the Year.

Ms Zhao moved to Australia more than a decade ago after growing up in China and working as a translator.

Settling in Bendigo, she has built a successful local business while indulging her passion for gardening.

When she was considering further study, her husband suggested horticulture because it was a natural fit for someone who spent a lot of time tending her garden and cultivating fruit trees, vegetables and roses.

Ms Zhao enrolled in the Certificate III in Horticulture and thrived in the course.

“Our classmates are very good; we just work together,” she said.

“If one student has a question, other people will help you. I really enjoyed the course, the teachers and the students.”

Ms Zhao’s dream is to work in national parks, caring for plants and preserving natural landscapes.

“I want to look after the plants and gardens,” she said. “I strongly recommend studying horticulture.

“The teachers are very supportive, they answer all your questions, and if they don’t know the answer, you find out together.”

Ms Zhao was also named the Student of the Year: Horticulture.

Meanwhile, Ms Knight’s story is one of perseverance, passion and an unbreakable spirit.

She spent a decade as a baker before a medical operation left her unable to continue in that field, so she had to look for something else.

“Baking was my passion; I loved to do it,” she said. “When I couldn’t do it anymore, it took me a while to find something else.”

She cycled through various jobs but felt that none of them was the right one, and in 2022 the flooding in Rochester left her and her family living in a shed.

At that time, she turned to the one thing that had always been a source of comfort – writing.

“The only thing that got me through was writing,” she said. “I’ve actually written my own story, but I’ve never published it before.”

Ms Knight enrolled in the Diploma of Professional Writing and Editing at Bendigo TAFE, where she finally found her purpose.

She is now working on two books – one a non-fiction account of the Rochester floods and the personal stories of those affected and the other a thriller novel. “People need to know what happened,” Ms Knight said. “Rochester’s story was skimmed in the news, and it needs to be shared.”

Ms Knight was also named the Professional and Creative Student of the Year.