May’s Center Spotlight shines on a few of our student workers we will be saying goodbye to this upcoming semester. We are so proud of all their years of hard academic work and it has finally paid off! We will miss seeing them at the center everyday and wish them the best of luck in the future.

Andrea Rodriguez is a Communication major and has worked at the center for the last year at the front desk. “I will miss seeing the smiling kids faces every morning as they walked in. I greatly appreciate all of the staff and what this job has offered me in my time being here.” Andrea will be moving to Austin after this summer and pursing a new job opportunity.

Another student worker we will say our goodbye to is our front desk student worker McKensie Turpin, she is graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Public Health. McKensie has worked at the center in the Gig’em class for the last year. “I’m really going to miss the children in the Gig’em classroom. It has been so fun to even see how much they have grown over the last year. Some of them learning to talk, learning their colors, pronouncing my name, etc. has been neat to be a part of.” McKensie will begin working for a non-profit organization back home called Project Joy and Hope. This organization works with medically fragile children and their families from the Houston medical center. She is also pursuing her masters degree in Child Life online through Texas Woman’s University.

Also graduating this spring with is our front desk staff member, Vivian Ta. Vivian will be working as a Employee Benefits Representative at USI Insurance Services. “I will miss the wonderful administration that was so supportive and helpful to me when I first started and wasn’t comfortable with my job yet. Also, my front desk team that took the time to train me and answer any question that I had.”

I am also graduating this May with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication. I have worked at the center for all four years of my college experience, and in the marketing role for the past two years. I am going to miss seeing all our students every week, because I have worked here for so long I have developed such great relationships with all our students. I also am going to miss my daily interactions with the teachers and our administrators. They have truly had such a huge impact on my life and helped prepare me to succeed in my next professional roles. My favorite memory from working at the center was seeing our new playground come to fruition. I remember my first day working at the center, one of the teachers mentioned the hopes of having a natural playground for our students and families to enjoy. Getting to witness the joy of our students when they first stepped on the playground was so amazing. I plan on pursuing a marketing and event planning position after graduation.

We are so proud of all our student workers and their academic success. We wish them the best of luck in their next steps in life. Our student workers play such a huge role at the center and create strong relationships among the staff and students. We will miss having them at the center every day, but they will always be a part of the Becky Gates Children’s Center family!