A fellow of Bon Appetit offered a seminar Monday night pertaining to farmworkers issues as part of a series the food contractor is sponsoring this week in recognition of National Farmworkers Awareness Week.

Alyse Festenstein, a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, presented the first of many events being offered to students this week.

The discussion focused on issues involving farmworkers’ rights in the United States and abroad, and on supporting the initiatives of the Real Food Challenge. “Real food” is “something that nourishes, sustains, or supplies,” according to the non-profit the Real Food Challenge.

After introducing herself, Festenstein invited Esmeralda Perez, a current CAMP student, up front to tell of her experience as a migrant worker. CAMP stands for College Assistant Migrant Program.

Perez said that at a very young age, she worked driving a large truck in a field where her family worked. When she turned 12, she said, she joined her family members in the work of picking up rocks and throwing bucketfulls into the back of a truck.

Perez went on to say that later in the summer, her family would work picking weeds. At this point, she moved around the presentation projector at the front of the room and raised a hand to the middle of her stomach, indicating the height of the weeds she pulled. She said that the tall weeds used to leave Perez with skin rashes.

The CAMP program at St. Edward’s is one of the best in the nation, said Edith Valle, who is a sophomore and also a CAMP student, following the event.

“They provide more money to their students,” said Valle.  St. Edward’s pays for four years of tuition for CAMP students, and “they pay for everything the first year,” according to Valle. Other institutions offer as little as one year of paid tuition.

Following the screening of an excerpt from filmmaker Robin Roman’s TEDx presentation, Elvin Lubrin, Director of Operations for Bon Appetit at St. Edward’s, asked the audience how “we can get over the cycle” of migrant children getting a consistent education.

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