MOUNT Eliza teenager Gemma Scott has been selected for Australia’s Skillaroos team to compete at WorldSkills Shanghai 2026 in September. The 18-year-old Restaurant Service competitor will join 37 other skilled apprentices, trainees and students representing Australia at the world’s biggest vocational skills competition.
WorldSkills is a biennial international competition where more than 1,400 young hospitality, construction, tech and trade workers compete against peers from over 70 countries and test their skills.
Scott is a student at the William Angliss Institute with a Certificate III in Hospitality and a Diploma in Hospitality Management. Involved in hospitality since she was 15, her jobs have included working for a small Vietnamese restaurant, at Counting House in Mornington, and now Moke Dining in Flinders.
She discovered the competition by chance. “I was in a coffee class with one of my teachers, and she pulled me aside and said, ‘Are you coming to a meeting?’ I had no clue what it was, but she dragged me to the meeting about WorldSkills,” Scott said.
Keen to challenge herself, she trained for six months with her mentor, Joanna Murthy-Nitka, preparing for the 2025 National Championships in Brisbane. “I trained a couple of days a week for six months. The training is pretty full on, but it’s fun,” Scott said.
The effort paid off when she won gold in Restaurant Service at the nationals, earning her selection for the Skillaroos. Now she’s preparing for Shanghai with a more demanding schedule – training three times a week from Monday to Wednesday at William Angliss Institute with Murthy-Nitka, then working Thursdays to Sundays.
The Shanghai competition will test her across four days of high-pressure service: fine dining with guéridon service (cooking at the table), banquet service with wine pouring and canapé creation, casual à la carte bistro, and barista work involving coffee and cocktails.
“The judging covers everything. It starts with how you present yourself – your confidence level, the way you smell, the way your hair looks. Then you’re marked on whether you know what you’re doing, whether you’re confident, how you connect with guests, whether you’re doing things properly, efficiently and consistently,” Scott said.
With that level of scrutiny ahead, Scott is channelling her ambition toward September. Her goal includes medalling, but also goes beyond the accolades. “I want to inspire others to take pride in their skills, while showing them that hard work and dedication really do pay off,” she said.
First published in the Mornington News – 21 April 2026
