AVR interview with Isabella Freitag

On a beautiful, sunny Monday morning, I met virtually with Isabella, our new AVR trainee representative. Quite curious, I asked Isabella some questions.

Isabella, you're doing an apprenticeship at Roche. Can you tell me more about it?
Yes, I'd be happy to!
I'm currently in the first year of my fast-track apprenticeship as a company IT specialist in Business Informatics; which lasts 3 years. At the moment I spend one day a week at school and the remaining four days in the office. This apprenticeship offers me exactly the practical relevance that I was looking for. Every day I learn new things and I have recently started participating in real projects. It's really fun!

What motivated you to become the AVR representative for trainees?
Roche Basel/Kaiseraugst has a total of 300 trainees every year. Including myself in the 1st year of apprenticeship, there are approximately 100 apprentices. I think it is incredibly important that trainees are represented, as some of the topics that are relevant for us are completely different. In addition, it is important to me, that we as future specialists, have good future prospects at Roche. Another reason I wanted to be part of the AVR is the exciting topics that are discussed and the knowledge I am able to gain here.

What has your experience in the AVR been like so far?
So far my experience has been a great and positive one. My AVR colleagues really welcomed me, and the topics we cover are very interesting. At the last AVR off site I was even allowed to ask our new CEO, Thomas Schinecker, aquestion from the trainees’ point of view.

Now, let's move on to you. You told me that you moved to Basel recently. Where are you from originally?
Smiling - I was born in Frankfurt, I moved to Lucerne when I was eight and now living in Basel since mid-2022. At the weekend, though, I like to go back to Lucerne to visit my family and my two cats.

What do you do in your free time?
I play classical guitar, I love acrylic painting, I like to go hiking and I like to spend time with my friends.

My final question is what do you want to do after your apprenticeship?
I'd like to study in addition to having a job. My ideal option would be to stay with Roche and study something like cybersecurity or data analysis.

I would like to thank Isabella for the pleasent interview and look forward to continuing to work with her.

Interview conducted by Loredana Dattilo, Site Representative for Basel