The bursary competition boot camp for the Johannesburg campus will take place in October.
Semi-finalists were required to attend a week-long boot camp at participating hotels held at the Gateway Hotel in Durban and the Peninsula All Suite Hotel in Cape Town. The boot camp saw the young hopefuls tackle many challenges, from a smell test and cooking with a mystery basket, to recreating a beautifully made-up room, which students could only inspect for two minutes. They were also put through their paces with actual shift work in various departments to reflect what it entails to work in a hotel. These tasks and shift work culminated in a final interview in front of a board of IHS lecturers and administrators and senior hotel staff.
Despite fierce competition, matric pupils Kirsten le Roux and Brad Taylor managed to secure top honours at their respective preferred campuses and were both awarded tuition fees for any IHS programme, valued up to R225,000. Runners-up Bianca Wagener and Ashley Bent will receive a 50% bursary for their chosen programme.
Kirsten, a learner from Hudson Park High School in East London, is ecstatic to attend IHS as her first step toward realising her dream of becoming an executive chef and exploring the cuisines of the world. "I am grateful for the financial help that the bursary competition has afforded me, but it has inspired me beyond that. The competition changed my mindset and taught me to achieve success, even when under immense pressure."
Brad, a matric pupil at Fish Hoek High School, has similar sentiments and is looking forward to the challenges and opportunities that await him as a bursary winner. "In five years' time, I want to be a qualified hospitality manager. I can't wait to start learning and to apply the knowledge within the industry."
According to Ruth Paulsen, Marketing Manager for IHS, the bursary competition is one of the school's initiatives to help identify, acknowledge, support and grow the best talent to feed the hospitality and culinary industry. "Next year will mark a decade of the IHS bursary competition starting careers of passionate and entrepreneurial young learners. We are proud to host such an inspiring competition."
