Fresh out of high school, Jorja Ponton was sure of her passion for cooking and knew that culinary arts was the path she wanted to take.
At just 18, she has already become one of the top culinary students in the state.
Her journey for cooking began with a VET course in Year 10, inspiring her to pursue culinary studies at GOTAFE in Shepparton.
On Wednesday, July 3 she joined over 60 aspiring chefs from first, second and third years of their TAFE courses as they competed in the AusTAFE Culinary Trophy State Finals held in Geelong.
She set out on the three hour journey with her dad to compete for one of the four ranked medals on offer for each of the chefs.
The four medals - bronze, silver, gold, and gold with honours - are awarded based on percentage scores from 22 judges evaluating preparation, presentation, taste, and cleanliness.
Only the top performers, generally second and third year TAFE students, move onto the national competition held in Canberra every year.
With a maximum budget of $35, Miss Ponton had to prepare an omelette and two servings of a main dish featuring meat, a starch, a green vegetable, and a sauce.
Competitors were given 2.5 hours to complete these culinary tasks.
For her main dish, she produced a pork dish with broccolini, mash potato and a gravy - the perfect Australian roast dinner.
Miss Ponton said she was confident going into the competition because she believed her TAFE teacher had prepared her enough.
“My TAFE teacher was absolutely amazing,” she said.
“There were three of us that entered from my course, and for the three weeks before the competition leading up we would stay behind class and practice.”
It was her TAFE teacher that told Miss Ponton of the competition taking place in Geelong, but she was sitting on the fence about whether she should compete.
Her boss at the Tongala Hotel, where she works as an apprentice chef, pushed her that extra step further and encouraged her to compete.
“I was kind of teeter tottering and not making a decision, but then my boss said that I should do it for the experience,” she said.
And what an experience it was.
The competition day ended with over 60 student chefs nervously waiting to hear the results of the day.
Miss Ponton said they announced the medals starting with the bronze recipients, but when they reached the end of the bronze section and her name had not been read, she started to get nervous.
“The two others that I came down with both got their bronze medals – and then they moved on to the silvers,” she said.
“Honestly, I was still sitting there and thinking ‘I don’t think I’ve placed.”
However when her name was finally read out as one of the silver medal recipients, the highest result for the first-year students, she was ecstatic.
“They read out my name and my face absolutely dropped,” she said.
“I just sort of stood there, and my dad elbowed me and said: ‘Are you going to get up?’
“I was only nine per cent off the overall winner which I’m very happy with.”
What’s next for the young chef? She said she’s right where she wants to be.
“Everything I’ve done from there has just been trying to get me that one step closer to where I want to be, which is why when the apprenticeship with Tongala Hotel popped up - I thought it was the perfect next step,” Miss Ponton said.
“I don’t know, one day it all just clicked, and I went ‘This is what I want to do for the rest of my life’.”
Although she will not progress to the next round, she looks forward to continuing her studies at GOTAFE and becoming a better chef.
On behalf of the Free Press, congratulations Miss Ponton.