Nutrition Grad Chased a Passion, Found a Profession

By Luciana Chavez Special to Merced College

Ever since he took his first culinary arts class at Pitman High in Turlock five years ago, Dominic Gonsalves has been fighting and striving hard for his future.

“My dream has been to become a chef,” he said.

The 21-year-old celebrated completing the training part of his dream when he graduated at Merced College’s commencement ceremony on May 23.

How did he go from a teenager without a direction, to someone ready to burst through the door to his adult future?

“As a person with autism, I’m always a perfectionist,” he said. “When I’m working on something, if it’s schoolwork or at home, I am really focused and do things by the book or from what an instructor has told me.”

That approach has allowed Gonsalves to max out every step en route to an Associate of Science degree in Nutrition and Foods. Yes, maxed out—the department named him their 2025 Outstanding Student of the Year.

“Dominic offers the best kind of success story,” said Erin Tassey, who has been Gonsalves’s professor in classes like Food Safety, Food Service Management and Food Production. “He really flourishes in a hands-on setting. In the lab, he grew as a student to where he could lead a group and put forth all the knowledge he has learned in all of his courses.”

Gonsalves said he has always loved to eat, and out of that grew a desire to cook. But it was the precision needed to chop and dice and the focus required to execute recipes that felt so satisfying to him.

Gonsalves was a high school junior taking his first culinary arts class when the pandemic hit in 2020 and interrupted his education. He continued to take cooking classes, but the pandemic limited his learning to preparing cooking kits at home. It lacked the buzz of a professional setting.

Gonsalves came to Merced College for the sole purpose of joining the Nutrition and Foods program. He learned a lot, even when he struggled, as in a recent 3-D animation class. The class tested his patience, because it took so long to gather the data he needed.

“I struggle whenever I fail, and it bothers me for a long time,” Gonsalves said. “So I always want to make things right.”

Then there was the biology course. The Gonsalves family, including mom Patricia and dad Mike, groan and laugh together as they remember taking many long drives throughout the county for an assignment, searching for a root system with visible nodules.

Dominic’s educational journey inspired Mike Gonsalves to join his son in pursuing the same degree. Mike has taken all of his food and nutrition classes alongside Dominic.

“It’s been a really amazing experience,” said Mike Gonsalves, who has a few more courses until he completes his AS degree. “Parents never get to do that with their kids. It has blown my mind to see what he’s able to do. I love it. It makes us really happy to see him work. It’s such an honor to go into classes with him.”

Gonsalves has been completing his required field experience hours with Taher, Merced College’s food service contractor. Because Taher also produces Meals on Wheels for Merced County, Gonsalves gets to do a ton of prep work for food that feeds both the college community and local seniors.

“It feels kind of nice to have students enjoy their food and have a good experience eating in the café,” Gonsalves said.

Gonsalves has a true passion for the sights, the sounds and the flavors of working in a kitchen—he loves chicken curry, a well-cooked steak with eggs, and crisp, ripe watermelon—but he gets even more out of it than that.

“It’s mostly just trying and experimenting with food, and then especially seeing how people react to food when they eat,” Gonsalves said. “Food is how people can express affection and emotions. I like that part of it.”

Gonsalves was quick to thank everyone who helped him along the way to earning his degree, including his parents, his professors and his counselor.

“I feel successful,” Gonsalves said. “I feel accomplished inside myself. My next step is to get a job at a good restaurant as a prep chef. Or I like steak, so maybe I would like working at a steakhouse.

“I had a lot of support. I took some baby steps and was able to get through. Sometimes I had some hard challenges and I was able to get past them. To everyone who has disabilities: Don’t give up, and you can accomplish so many things in the future.”