Student Finds Sweet Inspiration Rises With the Sun

During pre-dawn hours boasting sub-zero air temperatures and freshly-fallen snow cover, Williams College first-year student Rebecca Wagner was out of bed and focusing on precise hand movements and intricate details.

Standing over a stainless steel table clad in baker’s garb and clutching a tube of frosting, Wagner meticulously applied slender green icing “stems” and plump “leaves” to a birthday cake. Eyes and fingers worked in steady, cooperative tandem as college bakery supervisor Michael Walker offered encouragement.

“That’s right, squeeze and pull, squeeze and pull,” he said as Wagner manipulated a decorating tip and created the cake’s floral design. Minutes later, delicate “rose petals” sprang from Wagner’s precise efforts.

Rising pre-sun three days a week and dashing off to the Paresky Center’s basement baking arena is an unlikely preference for a college student but Wagner termed the work/study post “a dream job.”

“I’ve always loved to bake,” said the Otisville, Michigan resident. “My grandmother bakes and so does my mother. For me, this has been perfect.”

Walker noted Wagner’s aptitude for cake decorating and baking and her enthusiasm for the job as evidenced by the fact that Becky comes in by 6 a.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Wagner says that when the 2007-08 academic year began, she sought out the bakery as a work option. “I was assigned to dining services at Paresky and I asked about the bakery. The suggestion was that I come here and do some of the [baked goods] packing but by the time I came in the morning, the packing was done. So cake decorating was the thing that replaced packing.”

Nearly all the baking is done from “scratch,” said Walker, which means that the pies, cakes, and assorted pastries are not made from pre-mixed, pre-packaged preparations. At the bakery, the flour is measured and sifted and mixed with items such as butter, sugar and eggs to create dough and batter. In addition to baking breads, rolls, and treats for student meals, the bakery serves the Faculty House and provides baked goods to catered college events.

Wagner’s helping hands are appreciated, Walker said. Wagner operates electronic cake mixers, pours various batters into the appropriate baking pans and “isn’t afraid to get a little dough on her,” he said.

“She’s very good and saves us valuable time,” Walker said. “Becky really has a knack for this. She is working with increasing levels of independence. You can take 12 people and bring them here but they won’t pick it all up the way she did.”

R. Ian Noyes, Robert Vachereau, and Theodore “Ted” Stefanik Jr. round out the bakery crew.

“I like her, she gets me out of doing the cakes,” said Noyes with a chuckle.

“She comes in here and she gets things done,” said Stefanik. “She’s special to us.”

Wagner spoke with pride about a “Candyland” cake that she and Walker created together for a recent campus “Stressbusters” meeting. “Each week is themed and that week the theme was board games,” she said. “The cake looked like the Candyland game board.”

Wagner plans to return to the bakery during the 2008-09 academic year. “I lucked out with this job,” Wagner said. “I love coming to work. Mike is awesome, and everyone is so nice. We have a lot of fun. Mike is a great boss and I’m glad that he doesn’t just give me odd jobs.”

Wagner’s work/study experience could be giving rise to something other than bread, she said. “To own a bake shop, that’s my dream. That would be perfect.”

By Susan Bush for the Williams College Office of Public Affairs