This month we wanted to highlight Edwinna Ferguson, our center kitchen manager, and her devotion to maintain a clean and healthy work environment for the safety of our children. The Health Department Food Establishment Inspection was passed with a perfect score of 100%, she has done it before and has done it again! Earlier this year the Division of Student Affairs featured Edwinna in an article “Nurturing through Nutrition” we are still so proud of her for. We want to thank her for working hard every day to fill every plate for every child with the best quality! Edwinna works with a team of student workers who contribute to working in the kitchen and providing nutritional meals for the children. We wanted to take this time to open the floor to Edwinna and highlight her student workers to share a little more about their motivation and experience with BGCC.

Edwinna Ferguson has been working at Becky Gates Children’s Center for eight years and still has the same passion and motivation for going to work everyday as the day she started. She was interested in working here because “it was a part of Texas A&M University which is amazing. It has such a great group of people, and the staff is great. At BGCC you receive as much as you give and learn something new everyday from someone. There is a great variety of culture and lifestyles that the children come from.” Edwinna’s inspiration for cooking derived from the family culture she grew up in where “cooking was caring, if you cared about someone you showed them through cooking for them.” When asked about what motivates her to go to work everyday and work as hard as she does she says, “Everyday seeing the kids who are always so happy, and my coworkers who make me happy, I am excited to make a difference in the kids lives. I have a nurturing nature and these kids are our future so they need to be taken care of.”  Edwinna strives to do her best everyday and we couldn’t be more thankful to have her a part of our BGCC family!

Elle De Los Santos- Nutrition Major

“I wanted to work in the kitchen at Becky Gates Children’s Center because it allows me to see the application of my major in real life scenarios and be involved in providing nutritious meals to the kids at the center! I am currently on a pre-med track and am hoping to be a gastroenterologist in the future. ”

Payton Wilson- Nutrition Major, Business Minor

“This job gives me working experience for my future dietetic internship next year.”

Mikayla Douglas- ESET Engineering major

“I chose to be in the kitchen here at BGCC due to the environment. It is such a welcoming and friendly place full of some amazing people who I’m proud to call my friends. We get to joke and share stories in the kitchen. My future goal is to be a software engineer who helps develop apps that bring together a forum that brings warning signs of mental illnesses to everyone’s attention.”

Caleb Gabriel- Psychology major

“I wanted to work at BGCC originally as a teaching assistant (a role I still fill as needed), so as to gain experience working with children for a future career in pediatric psychology. At one point I was asked to fill in a spot in the kitchen and fell in love with the role, so I stayed put! I love my job as an all-around assistant to the full-time BGCC staff and hope to work here for the rest of my undergrad years. ”

Our newest team members are: