BEAUMONT, Texas — One Southeast Texas culinary teacher is proving you can have the best of both worlds.
She's mixing together her two passions to train up the next future chefs.
Chef Bettina Evans will be the first to tell you that your journey in life is almost never linear.
“I had a choice to either follow my love for individuals with special needs or actually go take the home economics route,” Evans said.
She had no idea those two routes would eventually meet in the middle.
“I'm telling people, honestly, I just feel like it's heaven on earth,” Evans said.
Evans’ career started off in the classroom working with special needs students for Beaumont ISD. She left in 2015 to pursue her dreams as a restaurant owner.
“We were open for three years. We close our doors in July of 2019,” Evans said.
While those doors closed, new doors opened.
“An opportunity to apply for this position came open. And so I jumped on it,” Evans said.
Evens is now the culinary arts instructor for Taylor Career and Technology Center.
“I'm able to be able to meet the need, and be able to take my gift and my passion for cooking and pass it on to the next generation,” Evans said.
With three classes and 26 students total, Evens is helping these students reach a goal.
“We prepare for our food manager certification test. So they have their industry-based certification,” Evans said.
Preparation includes cooking a variety of different meals for themselves and others.
“Against the wall over there, those are the invoices for the events that we have to cater,” Evans said.
Evans said her recipes extend beyond the realm of the classroom.
“I have one student who's actually my neighbor and his dad yelled at me one Saturday morning and said he was in there preparing pancakes. He had his recipe from school,” she said.
Four months into her position, Evans is proving you can have the best of both worlds.
“To be honest, I always wanted to be able to merge the two gifts together…I am proud. You're gonna make me start crying now. Okay. It really makes me proud because I had a teacher who saw that spark in my eye in middle school,” Evans said.
It’s the same spark she now has for her chef students.
Evans’ students are expected to take their food handlers certification next month.
This certification will allow them to become gainfully employed and work their way up the foodservice industry.