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April 11, 2016 | Volume 120 | Issue 58
Vets ‘sound off’ at campus event By Johnny Vizcaino Members of the UNM Veterans Resource Center, alongside the Student Veterans Association, held a “Veterans Sound Off ” day at the SUB on Friday. The event was a unified effort to combat stigmas surrounding the student-veteran community and gain scholastic engagement through reaching out to the oncampus veteran community. Kenny Ortega, a studentveteran in his last semester as a secondary education major, said it was aimed at generating social activity among studentveterans who make their way onto campus daily. “There’s about a thousand veterans at UNM, but maybe about a dozen or so will show up to the monthly meetings or are involved with any activities that go on, so this is basically a way to bring more people into the organization and just to let the student body know about the role of veterans on campus,” he said. It is essential for the local community to understand veterans and
recognize the fact that their service to society really only begins at their retirement from military service, Ortega said. Organizations such as the SVA and Veterans Resource Center, located toward the south end of the SUB on the second floor, work to enhance student-veteran campus culture and, ultimately, help veterans reintegrate into society. “Maybe the word doesn’t get out enough,” Ortega said, in regards to the perceived lack of student-veteran turnout. “Our [only means] of contacting veterans is through this mass-email system. Sometimes you... just delete them without looking, maybe that’s the case.” He added that non-veterans are welcome to join as well. “We don’t even really want the majority of our members to be veterans,” Ortega said. “We’re taking dependents of veterans, even just [students] who don’t have any connection to a veteran and just want to be able to support the veteran community on campus.” If there is any reason that veterans are having issues feeling like they are a part of the student-body,
Biraj Rawal / Daily Lobo / @DailyLobo
Eliberto Calderon, president of the Student Veterans Association, joins a conversation at the first “Veterans Sound Off” event in front of Zimmerman on Friday morning. The event was created to spread awareness about veterans around campus.
those problems should be confronted, Ortega said. Tyler Walker, a sophomore history and psychology double major, said, as the son of two
veterans, the urge to contribute to the cause of successful reintegration comes naturally to him. “It was a little confusing at first, but now it’s really interest-
ing and I’m glad I met all these people, because I didn’t really have a community before,” he said. “I’m in a community that
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Veterans page 6
Lewis wins GPSA election Holiday inspires Plans to build bridges between students, administration healthcare choice By Matthew Reisen
By Elizabeth Sanchez
Glenda Lewis of the College of Education will be the next president of the Graduate and Professional Student Association, according to a GPSA announcement. Lewis said she plans to bring a lot to the position and intends to foster relationships among UNM administration and departments as well as graduate and undergraduate students. “My campaign slogan was ‘Re-Thinking Engagement,’ and I firmly believe that we, as a Division I research institution, have to reconsider what engagement really means and come together as a community,” she said. “If we only stay within our departments we are missing out on the opportunity to not only network, but engage in interdisciplinary scholarship and research.” Lewis said she also believes that through engaging in interdisciplinary scholarship and research, UNM has the potential to generate additional sustainable funding sources that will benefit graduate and professional students. In the future, she said, GPSA will sponsor departmental open-houses, community engagement outings and intra-campus sports challenges. Lewis is hopeful that through these efforts UNM will build campus solidarity and improve its ability to problem-solve as a community. Lewis said she believes her two-year involvement with GPSA, in addition to providing her with working relationships with many
In life, Anthony Hopper’s father never wanted to discuss the end. When he passed away, Hopper said his family was unsure of his father’s wishes and faced interpersonal tensions while trying to make decisions on his behalf. Stories like Hopper’s inspired the creation of National Healthcare Decisions Day, which was established to provide valuable information and tools for individuals to use as they begin advanced healthcare planning . According to a study on the NHDD website, although many Americans were aware of living wills and had considered end-oflife preferences, only 29 percent actually had a living will. “There’s still an underlying feeling: did we do just what he wanted us to do or not?” said Hopper, PE/MOSSA Determiner for the Affordable Care Act Team at UNM’s Community Engagement Center. NHDD will be celebrating its ninth year on Saturday with the theme, “It Always Seems Too Early, Until It’s Too Late.” To contribute, the New Mexico Conversation Project and others will host a bilingual, free and opento-the-public information station tabling event this Wednesday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Highlands Senior Center, said NHDD volunteer Revathi A-Davidson. Individuals from the UNM Ethics Institute, among many others, will be in attendance. Spanish Department and Family and Community Medicine Faculty Member Veronica Plaza, said there
Daily Lobo / File Photo
Glenda Lewis speaks during a GPSA forum in the SUB on April 1, 2014. Lewis was elected GPSA President for the upcoming 2016-2017 school year.
constituents, will help in her upcoming presidency. “This position requires someone that can not only listen to the people but also be an advocate for the people as well,” she said. “I am confident that my years of being a member of the University of New Mexico community and valuing our mission and vision will be guiding points throughout the year.” Lewis commended outgoing president Texanna Martin for her accomplishments during her two terms in office. “(She) has done a great job of bringing more people to the table and encouraging student voice, and I wish to continue on this path,” she said. “I believe that we can follow through with the established momentum and strengthen campus relationships.” Lewis has a double concentra-
tion degree in American Studies, focusing on race, class and ethnicity as well as popular culture, she said. Lewis also has a master’s in secondary education. She has experience teaching in a variety of academic environments — including Albuquerque Public Schools and UNM — something she said will help her adapt to her role as GPSA president. “I believe that my ability to work with diverse groups of people will benefit me most,” Lewis said. “As a PhD candidate and scholar in language, literacy and sociocultural studies, I am a critical thinker and problem solver, which will definitely benefit me in this leadership position.” Matthew Reisen is the news editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
will also be a video from the NHDD website playing on screens throughout the SUB this week. Vice President of Student Affairs Eliseo “Cheo” Torres will also mention NHDD in his weekly e-mail to the student body. A-Davidson said NHDD Founder Nathan Kottkamp created the day because he was convinced that people need to be making healthcare decisions ahead of a crisis. “Many people make decisions when somebody is in the ICU,” she said. “That is not the appropriate place to make healthcare decisions. Rather, the advice is: have a conversation around the kitchen table.” From meal choices to crossing the street, we make healthcare decisions every day, Plaza said. “But advanced healthcare decisions [indicate] what kind of care you want to receive in case you cannot communicate those decisions by yourself,” she said. Plaza advises that patients share information about procedures they would prefer or not prefer with family members and healthcare providers. Although these forms can be found at virtually any healthcare location, she highly recommends forms offered through the New Mexico Bar Association. In 2015, with the help of Plaza, UNM alumni Yadira SalazarSanchez and first-year medical student Yazmin Irazoqui-Ruiz translated various informational items, such as a video on the national website, national personal identification documents and New Mexican brochures, from English to Spanish for the national
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Healthcare page 6