Andrew Beachy: The Philosophical Chef

Andrew Beachy

By Damik Bess, ENGL 336

Andrew Beachy

A junior transfer student from Garrett College, who is currently a chef working his way through school, 20 year old Andrew Beachy, would eventually like to become a philosopher with a background as a journalist. When asking Beachy how and when he found out that he wanted to do such a thing for the rest of his life, he was excited to first begin the explanation with saying that he would be “one of three people in his immediate family” to receive a college education, so he is not only going to school for himself, but for his family and the pride that comes with such an honor as being a recipient of a secondary education diploma in his family.

Andrew was born and raised in Garrett County and from a young age has developed a love for books with his favorite genre being religion. Beachy then went on to say that, he does not necessarily stick to one religious group, but reads different types of books that come with different religious groups in hopes of making himself more “in tune” to what other people around the world are interested in thus molding himself to be, potentially, a better philosopher than others. Along with that, Beachy hopes to gain insight and/or experience as a journalist to try and separate himself from other philosophy majors by saying “Journalism and philosophy go hand and hand. I can use my skills as a journalist to write about tools, topics and skills to make people better.”

Further along in the interview, Beachy revealed that he works at “The Hen House” where he has worked for five years [since a senior in high school]. Starting as dishwasher from which he has explicit memories of “grease from foods being all over my hands” to being promoted to something he refers to as “assistant chef” which he currently is. When being asked how he has the time to work part time, still go to school and drive to and from both school and work to home. Beachy replied with “I don’t, but I’m working there to pay for school.” After, saying that, I asked Andrew what year he was in and he told me that he is a junior transfer student from Garrett College where he actually attended for free because he went to the local high school and local high school graduates can go to Garrett College for free. Upon finding that out, I asked Andrew “What did you do with the money you saved by going there?” Andrew replied with “I originally started working there to pay for my car, but now it is going towards here [Frostburg State].”

Beachy is currently in his sophomore semester at FSU with an associates in Liberal Arts and is working towards a bachelors in philosophy, all while paying for his college education himself without any financial aid. All of that would make any other person that comes to mind rattle or break due to the stress that would come with juggling all those things at once with not a lot of time to do it all, but the easy going and always smiling Andrew Beachy is happy with his life. Living it to the fullest and soaking up all the sun he can while doing so.    

Link to website of The Hen House's restaurant in Frostburg, http://henhouserestaurant.com/