Scholarship memorializes Texas A&M Department of Soil and Crop Sciences former graduate student

Perejitei “Pere” Bekewe ’21, Ph.D., was living his dream of an academic career in the U.S. He aspired to learn about agriculture and return home to Nigeria to share his expertise with farmers.

Through hard work and his service-minded ambition, Bekewe earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural science and agronomic engineering from EARTH University in Costa Rica and a master’s degree in crop science from North Carolina State University. After completing his doctoral degree in agronomy from the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, he was a postdoctoral research associate at Cornell University.

Bekewe’s outgoing personality and passion for science helped him build relationships. His colleagues and friends at Texas A&M University had no doubt about his bright future, and that he would touch many lives worldwide.

In June 2023, shortly after moving to Washington state and beginning his first industry job with a global agricultural company, Bekewe tragically died following a car crash.

To honor his legacy, his friends Gina ’93 and Steven Eckerman ’92 established the Dr. Pere Bekewe ’21 Endowed Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship aims to help other students deliver the type of scientific research expertise to their home countries in Africa that Bekewe had hoped to take to Nigeria.

A chance meeting became a friendship

The Eckermans are a devoted Aggie family. Gina, Steven and both of their children attended Texas A&M University. Their philanthropic giving to the university, following Aggie athletics and frequent visits to their children on campus often bring them back to College Station.

Although Bekewe’s research had him working at several locations in the state, it was in College Station in November 2018 that he met the Eckermans at Northgate, a restaurant and entertainment district across the street from campus.

When Gina learned that Bekewe was from Africa, she shared about a recent mission trip she and Steven had made to Zambia. They helped orphans and sponsored six other children and their families with school and other needs. Bekewe told her about his desire to return to Nigeria to help its people through agricultural research and innovation.

“He talked about how much he appreciated the opportunity to live in America, get an education and take that back to Nigeria,” she said. “He had big ambitions, and when he told me he wanted to be president of Nigeria one day, I thought, ‘You might just do that!’”

Gina and Bekewe kept in touch over the years as he continued his academic career. Bekewe was curious about current events and enjoyed conversations about U.S. politics and understanding American culture.

“He had lost his mother at a young age and saw me as a maternal influence,” Gina said. “Once in a while he would say, ‘Thanks, Ma,’ when I would encourage him.”

The Eckermans found out about Bekewe’s death about a month after it occurred. Gina hadn’t heard from him for some time and didn’t receive a response to a birthday note she sent. A Google search led her to the announcement about Bekewe’s death posted on the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences Facebook page.

“I was just shocked and heart-wrenched when I found out,” Gina said. “It was a life taken way too soon. He had so many big dreams, and I wanted him to achieve them. The scholarship is a way to create a legacy for him and allow other students to accomplish some of his same goals.”

‘One of the hardest-working graduate students I ever worked with’

While at Texas A&M, Bekewe was based at the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences and involved in research field trial projects in Thrall, Beeville and Lubbock.

Jamie Foster, Ph.D., professor of forage agronomy in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research Station at Beeville, was a member of Bekewe’s graduate committee.

“We were working on sustainable intensification, the ability to produce more food on the same land area without causing detrimental side effects,” Foster said. “This project was related to forage research because wheat is an important forage crop in Texas, and some of the double crops we used were also cover crops or forages.”

By growing two different crops — wheat in winter and a cover crop in summer — and using different tillage treatments, they learned that double-cropping could be a feasible practice for farmers to increase income and help stabilize the soil since it was covered in the summer instead of lying fallow, Foster said. With field trials in three Texas ecoregions, their studies showed which summer cover crops are most productive for each region due to factors such as growing season and precipitation.

“He was one of the hardest-working graduate students I ever worked with,” Foster said. “The loss of Pere and the potential of his contribution to agriculture and feeding the world is beyond words. The best way to honor him is to continue to share that passion for agriculture and spread the good things we do. The scholarship the Eckermans have established is one way to ensure that happens.”

Pere leaves lasting impression and legacy

The scholarship will be awarded to full-time students from Africa who are pursuing a graduate degree in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences and conducting forage-related research. It will fund project, travel and other expenses the graduate student could incur.

David Baltensperger, Ph.D., professor and head of the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, said the department has a strong legacy of international cooperation and has been involved in many projects in Africa. Current projects include collaborations on sorghum, forages and soils.

“This endowed scholarship will provide long-term interaction with African students and connect us with the agricultural issues common to Africa and the U.S.,” Baltensperger said. “Though he passed away before realizing his dream, Pere’s research here has made a difference in wheat and forage production in Texas.”

Honoring Pere at Muster roll call

Muster, a Texas A&M tradition observed each year on April 21, honors students and former students who have passed away.

At sunrise on April 21, 2024, Perejitei Bekewe’s name was called at the annual Worldwide Muster Roll Call, which was livestreamed to Aggies around the world from the Clayton W. Williams Jr. Alumni Center. At this ceremony, loudspeakers on the building broadcast the list across campus, and volunteers answer, “Here,” for every name.

The largest Muster ceremony is on the Texas A&M campus at Reed Arena, and more than 300 smaller ceremonies are held around the world. When the names are called, a family member or friend answers, “Here,” and lights a candle in that person’s memory. Gina and Steven Eckerman attended the Houston Muster to honor their friend and answer for Bekewe when his name was called.

As part of the Aggie family, Bekewe was remembered that day and his dreams of impacting agriculture in Africa will live on through the accomplishments of the students who receive the scholarship that bears his name.

If you wish to memorialize or honor a friend or family member with a gift to Texas A&M University, contact Megan Hutchison at [email protected] or (979) 431-4122.