By Shaya Rogers, Features Reporter
Main campus hosted more than 2,000 middle and high school students during a recent open house to promote the trades programs, said Hospitality and Tourism Instructor Dr. David Mack Jackson.
Tours were held throughout different buildings on campus during the Feb. 22 event to educate students on the various programs through hands on, visual learning, he said.
“The first goal is to increase awareness so the community knows what we do here. The second goal is to try to get them to come to CNM, so they’ll know the options that they have,” he said.
The Marketing and Communications Office put together the event with the help of dozens of volunteers that included staff and students, he said.
Giving young minds the opportunity to think about career choices is important to their transition from high school to higher education, he said.
“They’re getting excited because they want to get out of high school and start college and that’s what this is doing for them,” said Jackson.
Since the students are the future of this community, planting the seed and expanding the knowledge of many different possible career routes gives more options for achievement, he said.
“Like it or not, believe it or not, all these children are pretty much going to be running Albuquerque, these are the leaders of Albuquerque,” he said.
Students were able to walk to the different buildings and see what interests them, he said.
“Here in the TC building, we have some different ones, welding, carpentry, woodworking and the students who come here, they are actually going to see how we do that,” he said.
Jackson said all of the trades are included, from Culinary Arts to Health Care.
Financial Aid Technician Victoria CTE Open House Martinez said the Financial Aid Office also attended the open house to answer any questions future students may have regarding enrollment, financial aid and scholarships.
“We’re just preparing them so they don’t lose out on opportunities,” she said.
Daniel Garcia, Academic Advisor with the Academic Advisement and Career Resource Center also attended to give information on how students can plan their education, he said.
“We have a listing of the majors that are offered. We let students know that they would come to advisement for planning for those majors, course planning, what they need to do if they’re transferring, or if it’s an applied science degree that would just finish out here,” he said.
Jackson said the large turnout gives him hope that this will become an annual event for CNM.
