A scream came down the hall from the kitchen. Two housemates were holding a blender over a bowl as milky white liquid spilled all over the counter, the floor, and them. They attempted to save as much horchata as possible but most of it was lost to the sticky surfaces. Figueroa has the ability to bring people together sometimes in the most unlikely ways. Usually, it is by feeding them, but on this day, it was by losing almost all of the group’s cinnamon drink.
Kass Figueroa is a second-year student from New Jersey. She has a unique way of drawing people to her and making them feel at home. As a mother in the Ruth Matthews Bourger Women with Children Program (WWC), she came to Dallas with her two children, Gino and Maya, who often join her on campus.
She serves as the Student Government Association as a cabinet member representative for the WWC.
When she isn’t at home cooking or doing homework, she attends events on campus. Her personality shines when she says her silly one-liners, and she is always there to lend a helping hand to those around her.
“I feel like I laugh all the time when we’re talking. It’s just like, the offhand remarks and like things that happen, you know,” Tessily Gregory, senior early childhood education major.
Her sense of humor stands out because Kass isn’t afraid to say what is on her mind and laugh, even at her own expense. She credits her parents with her sense of humor, her grandmother on her mom’s side for her personality, and her Grandma Palita for her cooking. With family, humor, and cooking playing such big roles in her life growing up, it is no surprise she continues to share these with us here.
“I love to cook and feed people. And watch people eat my food. This sounds like a creep,” Kass says.
Before Figueroa moved into the house with roommates, they say they hung out very little. The house was often quiet, but now, most days, it’s full of activities, music, and laughter.
“Kass is the type of person where you can’t really be in a funk around her, so she brings out the best in you,” Amirah Coney, senior business major.
Figueroa enjoys cooking for others, and if you get invited over, she will make sure you are fed. If you have dietary restrictions, she will go out of her way to ensure you can share a meal with her, even if it means making something she doesn’t normally eat.
On more than one occasion, she has brought over some of the mothers from WWC to cook. When they are home for holidays or if there is an event on campus, she makes sure the table is set with great food and comedy.
“We’ve always struggled a lot growing up, so I feel like they [her parents] used to try to, be funny to get our mind off of everything that we used to go through, especially when we lived in Puerto Rico, because we were very poor. So, I think that they, they just always try to make people laugh to, I guess, hide their problems, if that makes sense,” Figueroa said.
Just this past Easter, families had pork, mac and cheese, greens, yams, and rice, filling the house with the aroma of fresh homemade food. Kids ran around, and music played while we joked, danced, and cooked in the kitchen.
“I feel like every time we get together, we start laughing and stuff. I feel like we’re all funny together, and we don’t take each other’s humor seriously. We just all keep going and taking shots at each other,” Figueroa said.
When Figueroa was younger, she lived in Puerto Rico with her family and learned to cook from her grandma, Palita, who nurtured her love of cooking and learning new dishes.
“So, when I was younger, I used to have to cook for my parents because they both worked more than two jobs, and I used to have to have food ready for them to come home. So, I feel like it was, like, necessary for me to learn how to cook more,” Figueroa said.
But learning to cook didn’t come without some mishaps. She once forgot to set the heat to low while cooking and burnt the rice. Her mother tried to salvage it with an onion, but it just couldn’t remove the burnt taste, and they didn’t have rice with their meal that night. This never stopped her from perfecting her rice, and now it is one of her staple dishes to serve.
During an MU Cooking Contest, Figueroa brought together a few of the mothers in the program to build a team and compete. She formed a plan, organized a menu, and poured her heart into it by practicing and having taste parties. Her determination to do what she loves showed as she prepped, made lists, asked questions, and cooked several pounds of plantains in a week. She wanted to be sure everything came out just right and that she could be proud of the food she was putting out for the judges.
One of Figueroa’s favorite things is finding recipes online and creating them herself. She will send her friends and family videos and photos of foods she wants to try and find a way to make it happen.
“I love learning how to cook something and killing it that first time I do it because it makes me want to cook it again,” Figueroa said.
Her strong sense of passion goes beyond the kitchen. Although her return to school wasn’t easy, and she had doubts, she still decided to leave New Jersey to pursue a college degree.
“At first, I didn’t like school, so I dropped out. And I feel like I’m doing so good my first two semesters. That’s something I learned. I didn’t know that I was actually that good academically,” Figueroa said.
Figueroa is skilled at adapting to challenges at hand and making changes, a pinch here and a pinch there, to accommodate the life she wants and remaining a great friend to those she cares about.
“I feel like I’m very caring, and I like to take care of people,” Figueroa said.