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Lift Off: Students Speak on the Journey into College
FEATURE
Lift Off: Journey into College is Scary, Fun Spontaneous. Interesting. Amazing. Transformative. That’s how four young SFCC students describe their first year at the college. Inside SFCC describes their experiences as “intriguing,” and we asked them to share their stories. Jordan Lucero, a thin young man in a Wu-Tang shirt and backward cap, puts one at ease right away with a sincere, easygoing attitude. A year ago, though, he was an introvert. “I had a really hard journey to get here,” he says. “I had a difficult home situation. From kindergarten through high school I was constantly bullied, I dropped out of high school, I even overdosed on drugs. But then I pulled it together and got my GED at 16. One of my teachers really encouraged me to come to SFCC, as did my cousin, Amanda (also an SFCC student). I signed myself up when I was 17.” Alexandra Medina and Lorenzo Narvaiz, who both work with the First Year Experience program in the Welcome and Advising Center, come across as professional and friendly. Alexandra, a graduate of Pojoaque High School, came to SFCC because, “I had heard a lot of good things and I talked to an adviser here, Jonathan Harrell. He was really helpful and I decided to go for it.” Lorenzo, a Santa Fe High graduate, says, “I wanted to go to New Mexico State, but financially it was not an option. I was leaning toward SFCC and I heard about SFCC at my graduation – when you walk they hand you an envelope saying you’ve already been accepted to SFCC. It just made it really easy.” (SFCC’s Recruitment and Dual Credit Office distributes “Ticket to College” letters at local commencement ceremonies each year, inviting students to enroll.) Ruth Vasquez, who also works with First Year Experience, shares a smile under her sunhat as she describes a somewhat more circuitous path. “I moved here from L.A., and I’d heard some good things about SFCC, especially from my godmother. Fate just seemed to guide me here. And the campus was so quirky and cute.” Naturally, first day jitters were the norm. “My first day,” says Jordan, ”my palms were sweating. I thought it would be like high school all over again, bullying and having to fight. The
Jordan Lucero got his GED at 16 and came to SFCC on the advice of a teacher, who encouraged him to attend.
homework, the new people – it was crazy. I was icy inside and melting on the outside.” Fortunately for him, the SFCC community proved helpful, friendly and inviting. “It was a total turnaround, a 180. That first day was hell, but it felt like heaven.” Alexandra had her share of anxiety as well. “I was really nervous. I thought it would be complicated and people would be mean. I was scared, but everyone in my classes was so nice and helpful that by the end of the day I thought, ‘This is fun!’” Lorenzo laughs, “I missed orientation, so it was confusing. I think I went into a couple of classes that weren’t mine.” For Ruth, the atmosphere was the most memorable part of that day: “The general feeling was that everyone is here doing what they need to do, to get wherever they’re going, you know. No one’s laying around playing beer pong or anything. Chill but focused. ” As the year went on, the four found their footing both socially and academically. “I had some big challenges trying to find a place to study,” says Jordan, “ I really couldn’t study at home, balancing work and school, and becoming a social butterfly.
“ E V E R YO N E I S H E R E D O I N G W H AT T H E Y N E E D T O D O T O G E T W H E R E V E R T H E Y ’ R E G O I N G , YO U K N O W. . . C H I L L B U T F O C U S E D.” ~ Ruth Vasquez, SFCC Student 2
FEATURE I had to meet new people and learn to communicate better all on my own. I really transformed over that first year.” He began working for the Culinary Arts Program as a work-study student. “I really found my field in the Culinary Arts, and now I’m studying to be a professional chef. My dream is to get my associate in Culinary Arts, go to Italy and get my B.A., then teach disabled kids. I’d like to help give them the confidence that they can make beautiful food for themselves and really just make them smile.” Alexandra, meanwhile, switched her major from nursing to business, looking to find a job at LANB after she graduates. “The biggest challenge was the amount of academics. I was really stressed out.” Lorenzo found the discipline of college to be a bit of a challenge: “Unlike high school there aren’t people telling you that you have to do this or that, no parents or anything. You’re paying for it and you have to be self-motivated to work and show up and do your best.” Lorenzo started out strong but says, “I won’t lie, I slacked toward the end of the first year. But then I brought my grades back up and I’m proud to say I ended with better grades than I ever had in high school. One thing I really liked was the variety of ages in class. Young people and older people helping each other out, and the teachers were great, they taught in a way that clicked for me, especially math.” Now SFCC is helping Lorenzo sculpt his dreams into reality, as well as opening up new horizons. “My childhood dream is to own a business. I was into some kind of auto business, but now I’m really into the Electric Vehicles (EVs) – I’m just not down with fossil fuels, you know?”
Pojoaque graduate Alexandra Medina is currently studying business.
For Ruth, the first year was about sorting through possibilities. “I went to a performing arts high school, but then I studied business because I wanted to set up a smoothie stand and make the world a better place through fruity drinks,” she says. “I recently switched to fashion design. I’m also interested in
Lorenzo Narvaiz, who works with the First Year Experience program, chose SFCC for its affordable tuition.
linguistics. There’s just so many interesting things to study.” SFCC helped Ruth sort through it all. “Staff and teachers were very friendly and helpful. The First Year Experience class helped. They teach you time management and stress management and that sort of thing. They had us draw out our plan.”
“UNLIKE HIGH SCHOOL THERE AREN’T PEOPLE T E L L I N G YO U T H AT YO U H AV E T O D O T H I S O R T H AT, N O PA R E N T S O R A N Y T H I N G . YO U ’ R E PAY I N G F O R I T A N D YO U H AV E T O B E S E L F - M O T I VAT E D T O WORK AND SHOW U P A N D D O YO U R B E S T.”
Jordan Lucero sums up the journey into college this way: “At SFCC, I ~ Lorenzo Narvaiz, SFCC have the chance to be Student and First Year able to ask questions and Experience Employee help out other students who are new and maybe quiet or introverted like I was. That’s the leadership part of the school that I love. It gives me a chance to be loud-mouthed and achieve and help other students – all at the same time.”
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FACULTY PROFILE
The Power of Shared Beauty: New Mexico Literary Arts Honors Miriam Sagan SFCC poetry and creative writing professor Miriam Sagan was recently honored as the 2014 recipient of the New Mexico Literary Arts Gratitude Award. Bestowed upon one individual and one organization per year, the award recognizes those who have made an outstanding contribution to the literary arts in the state. The award letter notes, “We feel driven to thank and celebrate an individual…who has given generously to poetry in New Mexico. Your work at Santa Fe Community College, where all your students adore you, is just part of your depth and breadth in poetry. So many of your students have gone on to publish and have a life in writing.” “It’s wonderful!” says Sagan. “This award came out of the blue. As they say, no man is a prophet in his own country, so it’s especially gratifying to be recognized in your home town.”
This Love I Use Daily this love I use daily like salt like soap the more I use it the less there is dissolved the paradox I don’t miss it but find it
In addition to founding the Creative Writing program at SFCC, Miriam Sagan has published 25 books, has received numerous awards, and has long been investing in the Santa Fe literary community. She is also the founder and an adviser for the Santa Fe Literary Review, and helps direct, encourage and develop creative projects in Santa Fe.
Sagan is currently working on everywhere, viejo, a campus project involving your smile as you sleep suminagashi (spilled ink), the blue door jamb Japanese-style prints and poems, in collaboration with I find it in how her daughter, Isabel WinsonI don’t live by the sea but hear it in your left ear Sagan. The project is inspired by the ‘poetry posts’ that Sagan how I’ve lived initiated and had installed beneath these mountains on the SFCC campus: poles topped with signs featuring for such a long time an ever-changing roster of student poetry – literary installations hiding in plain sight. “They’ve taken on a life of their own,” says Sagan. The posts have “transformed in the campus landscape.” Awards and honors aside, Sagan notes that she is proud of the less tangible but rewarding experience of helping her students discover a greater vision of themselves as writers and people through poetry and writing. “Poetry is language, feeling and perception turning into communication. It’s so important because it breaks down barriers through the communion of beauty. You can’t underestimate the power of shared beauty.” 4
Associate Professor Miriam Sagan, was recently honored as the 2014 recipient of the New Mexico Literary Arts Gratitude Award.
In The White Night something is beneath the surface a dragon in the lake how else does this steam rise from the black volcanic beach the sun won’t set but makes its round strolling a circle of horizon we stayed up so late talking about the past it was like an extra dawn breaking on the promenade in the white night old couples, baby carriages, wheelchairs I was surprised by the indifference I felt for my old best friend—sleep you said: you’re going to like the waterfall because the road ends there how did you know I like being able to not go further and you said: Mir I’ve known you for a very long time
GIVING
SFCC Foundation Raises 30 Scholarships for the 30th Anniversary 30th Anniversary Honor Roll of Donors The Santa Fe Community College Foundation recently met a one-year challenge, and students are the winners. “The Foundation’s Board of Directors thought a great way to celebrate the college’s 30th Anniversary would be to establish 30 new scholarships,” said Rick Abeles, President of the SFCC Foundation Board. “We’re proud to have achieved that goal.” During the “30 for the 30th” campaign, more than $245,000 was raised to benefit Santa Fe’s Hispanic and low-income students. The Foundation raised the first half, which was matched by the U.S. Dept. of Education’s Title V program. Title V is dedicated to developing Hispanic Serving Institutions. SFCC, a designated HSI, receives one dollar for every dollar raised by the community. SFCC Foundation Scholarships are awarded to students who qualify at the completion of their first semester to recognize academic performance, address financial need and honor donor preferences. Awards are available for full- and half-time students. Book scholarships may also be available. Twenty of the new scholarships are endowed, meaning they exist in perpetuity and grow over time.
Presidential Endowed (beginning at $15,000) Regular Endowed (beginning at $8,000) Rick and Kathy Abeles Presidential Scholarship Access to Education Scholarship Susan R. Dugan Memorial Presidential Scholarship First National Bank of Santa Fe Scholarship Randy Grissom and Frank Renz Scholarship
Adrienne J. Powell Life Sciences Achievement Memorial Presidential Scholarship SFCC Recycling Program Scholarship SFCC Student Solar Club Scholarship Santa Fe Garden Club Aquaponics & Greenhouse Management Presidential Scholarship Santa Fe Human Rights Alliance LGBT Student Scholarship Santa Maria de la Paz Catholic Community Peace & Justice Committee Scholarship
Sandy Herzon & Family Scholarship
George A. Tate and Ann Rader-Tate Scholarship
“Longmire” Film Production Scholarship
Witter-Wilkison Presidential Scholarship
Paul J. Leatherberry Memorial Presidential Scholarship
Non-Endowed ($1,000)
Dr. James P. Miller, Sr. and Mrs. Mildred Miller Presidential Scholarship Nugent Foundation Solar Energy Scholarship Manuel and Elizabeth Pacheco Memorial Scholarship Laura and John Pantano Scholarship
“We are grateful to the SFCC Foundation for their focus on increasing support for our students,” said Randy W. Grissom, SFCC’s Interim President. “Each new scholarship gives the college the opportunity to provide more students the chance to create a better future for themselves through education.”
students. This year, the Foundation’s goal is to raise $180,000, which with the Title V Program matching funds will result in $360,000 to build new scholarship endowments for Hispanic and lowincome students.
Overall, the SFCC Foundation provides more than 300 scholarships every year to
Through these and other financial assistance programs, the immediate
10 IME Becas Program Scholarships Through the Consulate of Mexico in Albuquerque, the SFCC Foundation received and matched a special grant from the Federal Government of Mexico’s Institute for Mexicans Abroad (IME Becas). This program assists students of Mexican origin or descent to earn a degree at SFCC.
and far-reaching benefits of a college education at SFCC are made possible for more Hispanic students. For more information, to contribute to any of the scholarships or to learn ways you can establish a scholarship yourself, contact Deborah Boldt, Executive Director of the SFCC Foundation, at 505-428-1704 or deborah.boldt@sfcc.edu. 5
NOTEWORTHY Will Wilson joins SFCC as Head of Photography in the School of Arts, Design, and Media Arts. Wilson (Diné) managed the National Vision Project at the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, helped coordinate New Mexico Arts’ Temporary Installations Made for the Environment, and was artist-in-residence at the Denver Art Museum and the School of Advanced Research. He holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of New Mexico and a Bachelor of Arts from Oberlin. The Wheelwright Museum currently is presenting a survey of Wilson’s works, which are on exhibit through April 19, 2015. Camilla Bustamante, Ph.D., was appointed Interim Dean of Trades, Technology, Sustainability and Professional Studies and of Business and Education. Camilla has more than 20 years of experience in education and training, including at the New Mexico Department of Health, Northern New Mexico College and Los Alamos National Laboratory. She holds a Ph.D. in Health Education and a Master of Public Health from the University of New Mexico, an M.A. in Training and Learning Technologies and a B.S. in Telecommunication and English from Northern Arizona University. Students in the YouthBuild program are constructing an entire house that will be completed by March 2015, then moved to a lot on Zia Road and sold to a low-income family. At right: Adriana Villas and Terryn Andre are part of the YouthBuild student team. Interim President Randy Grissom presented the SFCC Green Business of the Year Award to Ravens Ridge Bed and Breakfast for its green business practices at the Chamber of Commerce Red Carpet Business Awards Gala. The SFCC Foundation received a $20,000 donation from PNM to support energy efficiency job training for veterans. SFCC will be training vets in the Building Operators Certification program, which includes an industry-recognized certification, professional mentorship and hands-on training. PNM’s donation covered all costs of the 8-week training for the participants. SFCC was awarded two grants from the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). A $50,000 SEED Infrastructure Grant will fund the purchase of state-of-the-art sensors to monitor algae growth in photobioreactors. A portion of the grant will be used to pay stipends to four students as they learn to cultivate algae at a commercial scale and analyze collected data. A $6,520 grant will help the college establish a plan to encourage more northern New Mexico underrepresented/minority students to enter STEM fields. Construction of the Higher Education Center continues to progress as planned. Costs are within budget and the building is going up within the projected timeframe. The new facility features a photovoltaic solar array that will supply approximately 80% of the energy needs of the new building. Look for an announcement of the grand opening in January 2015. 6
Douglas W. Jones has been named Chair of the School of Arts and Design and Assistant Professor of Fine Woodworking, where he has been a faculty member since 2006. Prior to that, he was program head of the woodworking department at the Shelburne Craft School. He holds an MFA in Furniture Design from Rhode Island School of Design, a B.A. from Wesleyan University and completed the Fine Woodworking program at Bucks County Community College. Continuing Education instructor Lauren Camp was named a winner in three categories in the New Mexico Press Women’s State Communication Contest. Lauren won first place in the book of poetry and creative verse categories and third place in blogs. In addition, Tupelo Press selected Lauren’s “One Hundred Hungers” as winner of the 2014 Dorset Prize. Lauren is the author of two books of poems and was three times nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Creative Writing graduate, Santa Fe Reporter writing contest winner and Santa Fe Literary Review art editor Doug Bootes launched his collection, “Maelstrom, Twenty One Poems.” In addition to writing poetry, fiction and nonfiction, this artistic SFCC grad paints in oil and watercolor and sculpts in wood, stone, and bronze. Ellen Perez has been named Interim Director of Kids Campus. She holds a Master of Arts in Education from the College of Santa Fe and is a doctoral candidate in educational leadership at UNM. Her research focus is in early childhood interventions for children of poverty. New full-time faculty hires include Jason Beam (Exercise Science), Liz Cervio (Behavioral and Social Sciences), Eric Highfield (Greenhouse Management), Diane Ranck (Nursing), Christopher Rivera (Emergency Medical Services) and Tracy Roberts (Math).
SFCC Kitchen & Bath Student Takes Home Scholarship
KUDOS
SFCC Kitchen and Bath student April Park earned Honorable Mention and a $1,000 scholarship at the NKBA/ GE Charette Competition. The competition recognizes students who demonstrate advanced skill in kitchen design by planning a safe, functional kitchen within a three-hour period.
New Mexico Chairs: Sculpture & Function “Chairs, an Exhibit of Sculptural and Functional Chairs Created by New Mexico Artists” at the City of Santa Fe Community Gallery features faculty members from the Fine Woodworking and Math Departments: Doug Jones, Christoph Neander, Michael Hoffer and Larry and Nancy Buechley. Through Sept. 12.
SFCC Designated a Military Friendly School Emily Stern: Teacher of the Year SFCC’s Phi Theta Kappa chapter has named Emily Stern Teacher of the Year. Emily is a faculty member and Curriculum Specialist Title V, First Year Experience Program. She received an honorary certificate for teacher appreciation from the student leadership program.
SFCC has earned the designation of being a 2015 Military Friendly School. This national program selects the top colleges based on data submitted through a survey process. As a Military Friendly School, SFCC can further its support of and outreach to veterans.
OUT for Work at SFCC SFCC’s Career Services received an OUT for Work LGBTQ Certificate and was recognized for its work with LGBTQ students to provide quality services, training, outreach, support and resources.
AHA Festival Picks SFCC students Jacy Oliver and his band CassoVita, Andy Kirkpatrick and his act Andrew Cryptic, and Scott Shuker with a project called The Art and Fashion Squad were selected to participate in this year’s AHA (After Hours Alliance) Festival of Progressive Arts. The AHA Festival is the largest cultural event for young people in Santa Fe and will be held Sept. 14 at the Santa Fe Railyard. 7
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Help SFCC Unleash the Power! Solar PV Array Ribbon Cutting Ceremony Thursday, Sept. 18 • 1 p.m. Trades & Advanced Technology Center
Inside SFCC Published by Santa Fe Community College President and Governing Board Randy W. Grissom Interim President Linda Siegle Chair Dr. Martha Gandert Romero Vice Chair Kathy Keith Secretary J. Chris Abeyta Member Pablo Sedillo Member Willie Torres Longo Ex-officio Student Member Produced by SFCC’s Marketing and Public Relations Department. Janet Wise, Executive Director Writing & editing: Jennifer Bleyle, Meg Lenzer, Devon Ludlow, Laura J. Mulry, Janet Wise Design & Layout: Melyssa Holik Photos: Doreen Gallegos, Bob Godwin, Meg Lenzer, Devon Ludlow, Dorothy Perez y Piriz
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