CAMPUS NEWS
Teixeira and Bothelo: Cooking up a brighter future
by Ka ‘Ohana staff

They survived 15 weeks of Chef Diane Nazarro’s “ tough love,” but Jessica Teixeira and Heather Botelho say they wouldn’t trade their culinary training in WCC’s cafeteria for anything.

“We’re more responsible and we feel better about ourselves,” Botelho, a Castle High School junior, explains.
“We look at some of the people we know who are skipping school and not doing anything with their lives. That used to be us.

“At Castle, sometimes we didn’t go to class. This program was our chance to get back on track.”

The girls — best friends since 7th grade —are proud graduates of the Employment Training Center’s culinary arts program. Now they hope to return to their high school and graduate on time next year.

WCC’s Employment Training Center program has several sites across the island that take “at-risk” students and give them a chance to find a new direction. The students gain job as well as life skills so they can lead productive lives.
In the past few weeks,

Botelho and Teixeira have learned what it means to report for work at 6:30 a.m., move fast to serve customers and create everything from Caesar salads to flaming desserts to “spaghetti that’s not Ragu.”

But they’ve also discovered a sense of themselves that they say they never had before. The girls talk about how they used to avoid going to school because of fights with other girls, and not being serious about their future.

All that changed when they put on their white uniforms and chefs’ hats. Besides taking English and math classes as part of their training, the girls learned how to deal with pressure.

They laugh when they recall how nervous they were on the first day. And yes, even cafeteria customers have been known to cringe when Chef Diane yells above the din of pots and pans.

“Chef Diane has a loud voice, and at first we thought she was kind of scary,” Teixeira says. “But now we don’t want to leave. We like the way she teaches. She only wants the best for us.”

Their feelings about the program inspired Botelho and Teixeira to stand before the next class of “newbies” recently and give them the benefit of their experience.

“We knew a lot of the kids coming in from Castle, and we just wanted to give them a heads-up,” says Botelho.

“We looked at them and said, ‘That used to be us.’ We told them this program will help them grow as a people and to be more responsible. If you’re the only one making the salad, then everyone is depending on you.

“We told them these are life skills they’re learning — including getting down on their hands and knees to scrub the floors.”

The girls describe how much they’ve changed with the skills they’ve gained in just a few weeks.

Teixeira says now she cooks regularly for her family, and Botelho recently catered a family event for 150 people.
They also recall how exciting it was when the students catered an exclusive three-day event at C.S. Wo, “cooking among the fancy furniture.”

But their fondest memories are reserved for Chef Diane and their other teachers who taught them much more than just the art of cooking.

Teixiera says she’s interested in nursing, but would also consider a culinary career; Botelho is still weighing her options.

“We knew we needed this program. Now we’re a lot more focused about the future,” Botelho adds.