Two outstanding recipients for 2024
Every year the WITH Tas Student Scholarship reveals a number of dedicated young women, deeply invested in, and passionate about, our industry. Whilst the Interview Panel relishes getting to know them all, it's often a hard task selecting just one student, hence the WITH Tas Committee provides an Encouragement Award when there is a second outstanding candidate - like this year! Meet Ardelia Hadwidjaja and Lakmi Hansika.
Meet Ardelia Hadwijaja - 2024 Student Scholarship Winner
From a young age, Ardelia Hadwidjaja dreamt of settling in Tasmania, working in hospitality and contributing to the local community. Mid 2023 saw that goal achieved as she enrolled in Cert IV Kitchen Management at Frontier Education, closely followed by becoming a volunteer cook for guests and crew on board the Lady Nelson.
Ardelia has over a decade of accounting and financial experience together with more than 5 years owning and managing restaurants in Indonesia – a background giving her the ability to approach Kitchen Management with a strategic mindset. After completing her Cert IV at the end of 2024, Ardelia will pursue a Diploma of Hospitality Management in 2025.
Her motivation for higher level study is to gain the necessary knowledge to provide exceptional dining experiences, support local producers, and contribute positively to Tasmania's culinary landscape.
In October 2023 Ardelia joined Willie Smith’s, quickly becoming a highly valued member of the team. Her work placement at Tesoro Restaurant is also providing practical hand-on experience.
She is a dedicated student with a passion for culinary arts and hospitality. She's enthusiastic, actively seeking opportunities to help the local community through her work on the Lady Nelson, including helping paint the boat, although it wasn't her primary role.
Ardelia plans to set up her own food truck, specialising in Indonesian and Asian cuisine, crafted from 100% Tasmanian products and in the future, expand her business, to offer students practical experience and business management training, giving back to the sector.
The recommendations and feedback from the Interview Panel panel and strong references from Willie Smith’s and Frontier Education all agreed, as did the WITH Committee on meeting Ardelia, she is an outstanding candidate - a young woman, obviously passionate about, and dedicated to, the Tasmanian hospitality industry.
WITH Tas thanks Tourism Tasmania for their support of the 2024 Student Scholarship.
Ardelia Hadwidjaja
" Ardelia very quickly become an integral, reliable and hard-working member of the kitchen team. I can see a bright future for her here in Hobart in the hospitality world and can’t wait to watch her flourish as a chef. "
Katherine Marsden, Willie Smith's
" Ardelia has demonstrated exceptional dedication, passion, and commitment to her studies and the hospitality industry. … She has strong leadership skills, a positive attitude, strong work ethic, and the ability to collaborate."
Minghao Wang, Frontier Education
Meet Lakmi Hansika - 2024 Encouragement Award Winner
Lakmi Hansika describes herself as “a Sri Lankan with a fiery passion for cooking and crafting unforgettable culinary experiences with a Sri Lankan twist”.
With a background spanning Dubai, Sri Lanka and Tasmania, Lakmi is highly trained in hospitality including through her roles at Burj Al Arab and as a flight attendant at Flydubai. She is now working to further develop her knowledge of cooking techniques, food safety and kitchen management through a TasTAFE Diploma in Hospitality.
Already motivated, Lami has set up her own catering business Ceylon Crew which is operating around her work placement hours at Farzi and Crowne Plaza.
Lakmi is also a talented communicator, as evidenced by her representative roles as the TasTAFE International Student Ambassador (2023) and City of Hobart International student Ambassador (2024) where she uses food as bridge between cultures.
