Long-time faculty member of Bakersfield College Becki Whitson got emotional when speaking about her time and experiences at BC over the years.

“This is where I always wanted to be,” said Whitson.

Whitson has been a faculty member at BC for around 25 years, but before that, she attended BC as a student.

“I loved my time as a student at BC. I loved the teachers, and I loved the closeness in the community that we had here. So when they actually asked me to teach, it was kind of like a dream come true,” said Whitson.

Her most memorable and proud moment at BC was when her peers nominated her for the Margaret Levinson Faculty Leadership award in 2009.

Whitson said, with tears in her eyes, “That was an honor. I don’t know why they did that but they did. Being given that award will always be special to me. It’s such an honor.”

One thing that Whitson has been very involved in is anything related to BC cheer. She was, and still is, in charge of getting the alumni cheerleaders back every year, and she has also been the cheer coach for around 13 years.

She explained that becoming the cheer coach was another dream come true.

When asked about her experience as a cheer coach, Whitson said, “You have good years and bad years, but I love to see the kids from all different high schools gelling them into one squad and really teaching them about Bakersfield College tradition.”

She explained that as the cheer coach she teaches the cheerleaders about the tradition at BC. She does not want to see the long-held traditions of BC go away.

Being a cheerleader when she was a student at BC, being the cheer coach now, and being in charge of getting the alumni cheerleaders return to BC has kept Whitson very involved in homecoming over the years. She explained that she has only missed two homecomings in her time here at BC.

Whitson also puts the cheer uniform back on for homecoming games alongside some of the cheer alumni at BC.

“Homecoming is pretty special to me because it is a time when people come back,” said Whitson.

She explained that one of the reasons she likes homecoming is because she gets to see old friends and new friends all in one place.

Whitson is the president of the BC Alumni Association. She has been involved in putting on the Alumni Barbecue every year and she said that can be hard at times.

She explained that one of her favorite things about being president of the Alumni Association is raising money for student scholarships.

Another accomplishment of Whitson’s is being chair of the Behavioral Science Department.

“I was the chair for seven years. That’s not something I ever planned on. It was a lot of work, but I have a great department and great people in my department,” said Whitson.

She said that she enjoyed all the work, but that it could be stressful and demanding at times.

Whitson explained that toward the end of her time being the chair that her health influenced her to step down. She said that another reason was that she wanted to step down from the chair was to get back to where she was focusing on the kids and the classroom.

Whitson teaches Introduction to Psychology, but she said her specialty is Human Sexuality.

She said, “What makes it so exciting is the students. I love teaching college age.”

After many years of working and being heavily involved at BC, Whitson said that she is starting to get ready for retirement in the future.