Rising to occasion

By Monique Ebrington
YARRA Junction pastry chef Camilla Williams had a taste of success when she was recently named dux of her TAFE course.
Mrs Williams completed a two year diploma in Hospitality Management (Patisserie) at Box Hill TAFE and was recognised as dux of her course at her graduation ceremony in March.
Achieving consistently higher scores in her coursework than her 186 peers, Mrs Williams said the achievement was a complete shock.
“It was a total surprise. I hadn’t even heard about graduation because TAFE didn’t have my right address,” Mrs Williams said.
“I didn’t even know that there was a dux award that you could achieve, so it was a big surprise.”
Mrs Williams said that returning to study after having her daughter, 10 and her son, 8 helped her put things into perspective.
“I struggled at school, I was dyslexic, so to do this is amazing,” she said.
“I found that you study harder as a mature aged student, because you realise the possibilities when you’re older.”
Even with her new found achievement Mrs Williams said she wouldn’t swap her job at Gladysdale Pies in Yarra Junction with anywhere else.
“To be able to look out the windows and see snow on the mountains in winter is just amazing and the people here are great, why would I want to go anywhere else?”