At Adulting 101: Broke and Brilliant, these boxes of non-perishable food items were handed out freely with copies of the Dallas College Cookbook.
Student Programs and Campus Engagement, or SPACE, unveiled the Dallas College Cookbook at the Adulting 101: Broke & Brilliant event. It came as a part of the programs focus this semester on aiding young students that are in and leaving college.
The cookbook contains 23 recipes from students, staff and faculty across Dallas College. Designed with the tight budget many college students face in mind, there is more than just lists of ingredients and instructions packed into the 54 pages. Each recipe in the sweet and savory sections contain quotes from the contributors, ranging from parts of their life stories to words of encouragement and wisdom.
The SPACE commander at Brookhaven, Sam Ratcliffe, put them together in approximately two weeks using Canva after campaigning for the recipes through emails and flyers.
“It’s more than a cookbook,” Ratcliff said.
The final section of the cookbook, “Make it yours,” has room for readers to include their own recipes and shopping lists. It includes a list of common challenges students face paired with solutions on and off campus.
The event came about as a part of Ratcliffe’s focus on helping young college students prepare to enter the adult world in the Spring 2026 semester. Last fall her and SPACE focused on helping students integrate into college life. “It was like a beginning and an ending kind of idea,” she said.
She said the goal with the cookbook is to help students see there are resources available to help them during and after college. “You can’t sit there and hope that something’s going to come to you,” Ratcliffe said. “You’ve got to go out and find it
Aniya Robertson, the president of student ambassadors at Brookhaven, contributed a recipe for a queso dip.
Robertson said she thought the cookbook was a good idea and the quotes from the recipe contributors go beyond how to be an adult, but they also serve as advice for teenagers and children. “I really thought that it brought together what SPACE really is,” she said.
The Brookhaven campus president, Madeline Burillo-Hopkins, also contributed.
“[The cookbook] celebrates the diversity of who we are as people,” Burillo-Hopkins said. She pointed to family gatherings, religious holidays and watch parties, saying, “There’s always food. Food brings people together.”
Maria Rodriguez (left) and Lesley Torres, DISD students, look through the Dallas College Cookbook at the Adulting 101: Broke and Brilliant event. (Marcos Velez Rodriguez)
Burillo said she hopes more students get a chance to try the recipes. She submitted one for mezclita sandwiches, a Puerto Rican meal.
At the cookbook’s debut event on March 4, letters spelling “Welcome To Adulting” hung over attendees as they entered Room S003, lined with rows of pink, iridescent tablecloths. At a table in the corner, a flurry of colorful cords spilled out from a stack of aprons students could decorate to their liking. Two neatly stacked rows of boxes labeled “North Texas Food Bank” lined a wall, on top were copies of the cookbook.
At the event, North Texas Food Bank meal kits from the food pantry were given freely to students along with sensory stickers, snacks, bento boxes and wallet multi-tools.
The Dallas college cookbook is available online for free.
The entrance to Room S003, welcoming students into Adulting 101: Broke and Brilliant.
Dining and Cooking