Month: November 2014

Student Opportunities; Los Poblanos looking for students interested in hospitality industry

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By Daniel Johnson, Editor-n-Chief and Lynne Cash, Vice President of CNM Tourism Club | Photos by Daniel Johnson

As a small business it is important to meet the needs of all guest that visit the establish­ment and that means that hiring the right kind of employee is a major priority for Los Poblanos, said Los Poblanos Inn Manager Nancy Kinyanjui.

Being a small business means that when an individual is hired they may work many different jobs, she said.

“We really have focused on hiring people that want to work in this industry and are looking for a unique opportunity to learn more than one hat or job while working in hospitality, she said.

When someone is hired to work the front desk they will be trained on that job but they may also learn how to do housekeeping and some janitorial, she said.

It is important for students to enter into different internships in the fields that they are choosing to study so they can receive hands on experience in those fields, Kinyanjui said.

That kind of educational process is very important because once a student has the opportunity to work in the field they may decide that it is not what they wanted and can then move on to some­thing that better suits them, she said.

“We have some people that work many jobs and we really push the idea that you should not be hired to just do one thing but actually be involved in many aspects of the business,” Kinyanjui said.

Students are ideal to hire because they are so full of energy and ready to approach the workforce head on, she said.

Being able to have a diverse college expe­rience will help all students once they gradu­ate, she said.

Anytime a student is approaching the work force there are many things that they need to remember and that can help them get hired, she said.

 

“The enthusiasm and energy that a stu­dent possess is amazing and is something that is greatly desired here at Los Poblanos,” Kinyanjui said.

Some of the other things that we would like to get students involved in is if they want to work hospitality then they better know how to do guest services, she said.

If someone is studying to work with people then they better know how to talk and handle many different attitudes that they may run into, she said.

“If you want to help people and make them comfortable during their stay then you better know how to greet them with some­thing more than just a hello,” Kinyanjui said.

A student should also research the place that they are apply­ing to so that way the potential employer can see that they are actually interested in the position and want­ing to be part of the team, she said.

A resume should be concise and to the point as well as being tailored to the type of job you are applying for, she said.

There should not be anything unprofes­sional about the infor­mation that is provided, she said.

“If you provide a potential employer with access to your Facebook or Instagram account then you better make sure you do not have any inappropriate pictures on there that could kill your chances of getting hired,” Kinyanjui said.

Another area the stu­dents need to pay attention to would be the follow up process, she said.

“If you go in for an interview don’t just sit on your hands and wait for a response, call the place back and see where you stand after your interview,” she said.

Being able to remind them of a specific person might lead them to hire that person above someone who shows no interest, she said.

In the hospitality indus­try there is a high turnover ratio but Los Poblanos prides themselves on having a lower than average turn­over ratio, she said.

“Los Poblanos is mar­keted as a unique travel experience which allows us the fortune of never really having an off season,” Kinyanjui said.

The Inn is family owned and operated by the Rembe family who are originally from Albuquerque, she said.

The long term perse­veration plan for the loca­tions historical buildings lead the owners to decide upon a long term sustain­able business which lead to the creation of the current location being a beautiful historic inn and organic farm, she said.

The inn originally opened in 2000 and started with six guest rooms and now offers a total of 21 rooms that can accommodate up to 50 visiting guests, she said.

“Being a small business has allowed us to focus on the more organic and local angle of our approach to our guests,” Kinyanjui said

The menu that is offered at the onsite res­taurant uses only food that is from local farms throughout the state of New Mexico, she said.

The inn offers guided tours of the farm which offers guests an opportunity to see where some of their food comes from espe­cially since a lot of the food served at the res­taurant is grown on site, she said.

“We love being able to let our guests as well as our employees know what it is to expe­rience the more hands on approach to things if it that means digging in the dirt to pick your own potato or picking your own tomatoes because every potato and tomatoes has its own story,” Kinyanjui said.

Art: (I Think) I can; CNM students create exhibition of their own art

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By Guadalupe Santos-Sanchez, Staff Reporter

Aspects of Painting, Drawing, and Multimedia students have created an exhibition at CNM which is on display now through Friday, Nov.21, said Lea Anderson, Aspects instructor.

The exhibition titled “ART: (I think) I Can” is on display at CNM Connect on Main Campus in the Student Services Center Room 107, she said.

“They hold an exhibition and are graded on the quality of their artwork as well as their level of commitment of profes­sional participation in the exhibition itself,” she said.

Participating student artists are Gloria Birkholz, Sarah Gamoke, Allison Godfrey, Sherry Godfrey, Larry Leija, Paul Matthew, Hana, Carrie Mulvihill, Wisdom Reyes, Krystal Schlecht and Monica Trujillo, she said.

Each student chose their own theme for their individual body of work, she said.

They chose the title of the exhibition because it summed up the feelings they had about making a series of artworks and setting up an exhibit, she said.

“They were nervous at first, but now they have accomplished what they set out to do and have gained a great deal of confidence in the process,” she said.

They are working on their series of pieces all through­out the fall term, however some of the pieces were com­plete in time to hang for the exhibition, she said.

All the students participated in making the artwork, in setting up the exhibition, in advertising the exhibition, and more, she said.

This prepares the students for a career as an artist because like any career it does require dedication, hard work, self-discipline, and passion, she said.

The series of artworks created and the basic experi­ences learned in this Aspects course are also intended to prepare students for the Fine Arts Associates Degree capstone course, she said.

“You do a series, you decide what you want to do, but I want six to ten different pieces of art in the series, and that makes it kind of fun,” said Gloria Birkholz, Art Studio major and participant in the exhibition.

Everybody came up with something really different, she said.

She has always created art, but it was not until she retired that she realized she really liked working with it, Birkholz said

She has worked with calligraphy, photography, and print­making, she said.

“But I’m a fix it type person, so I really like 3D,” she said.

For the exhibit she created a series of sculptures that she titled The Yard Sale Series, she said.

She went to yard sales and asked the sellers to give her $5 worth of merchandise, she said.

“That was my arbitrary limit and I worked with only what they gave me for that five dollars, and that was really challenging,” she said.

However, she did have barbed wire, paper mache, and newspaper to use for the basic structure, she said.

She realized that she was limited by the space because it is a public place and not really a gallery, she said.

“I could not put my sculpture up so that people could see all sides of it, which is what 3D needs, so in that way it’s sort of frustrating,” she said.

But it is up and it is always nice to have your work up and see what responses will come, she said.

CNM ITS computer programmer Larry Leija said he has taken art classes since junior high school.

He has taken all other Art Studio classes as well, he said.

His mediums of choice are oil painting, watercolor painting, and pastel drawing, he said.

For the exhibit he is working on a series of oil paintings of his classmates, he said

People are his favorite subjects to paint, he said.

“Seeing something about a person is really just fairly interesting, I guess I like looking at how people tick, looking at the complexity of people’s faces and the infinite variety, and seeing people’s reactions,” he said.

This is a bit of a challenge because humans are so complex, he said.

But it is fun to see the art on display and see how people react, he said.

Art Studio major Sarah Gamoke said she started creating art as a child and learned art techniques in high school.

She has now been working artistically for seven years, she said.

“I have always been creative and it seems like it began with Legos,” she said.

The art she submitted for the exhibition consists of three collages and three sculptures, she said.

The photographic images in the collages resulted in the three sculptures that she made out of discarded auto parts, she said.

“The idea for these came after my father’s death this past summer. I spent many hours in his garage as a kid and was inspired by his passion for working on projects there,” she said.

Gamoke is excited to have her work up on display and to share her passion with others, she said.

The studio art classes at CNM have taught her many art concepts and skills and have inspired her to create more than she could have imagined, she said.

Anderson said she is proud of CNM and the CNM Art Department for supporting students in giving them the sup­port they need in their career path toward being an artist.

“They did a fantastic job. I am proud of them,” she said of the students.

Winter fashion show: Cosmetology students out on a show for class final

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By Daniel Johnson, Editor-n-Chief

The Advanced Salon Cosmetology 2692 class is putting on a student run fashion show on December 4, 2014 at the CNM South Valley Campus from 6pm to 8pm, Cosmetology Major Valerie Archibeque said.

The show will let fourth term students have an opportunity to use all the skills that they have acquired throughout the course of the program, she said.

“We will be able to apply and show off all the stuff we have learned while being students of the cosmetology program at CNM”, Archibeque said.

This is the first time we are doing this as a final for the actual class, she said.

Cosmetology major Natalie Rojo said the fashion show is not only the final for the class but it is also something that the department hopes will help to get the cosmetology program noticed.

“The show will allow the students the oppor­tunity to show off what they have learned in the different areas we study in cosmetology, like hair, nails, make-up, and other aspects of fash­ion,” she said.

Cosmetology major Louie Mendoza said the students will have to plan out the entire show from top to bottom.

There are 11 students doing this and each student will have two models so there will be 22 total models that will walk the runway, he said.

Students also have to plan out the floor design, seating, food, the theme, and how the show will flow, he said.

“It should be a lot of fun because we will get to express who we are with the help of what we have learned,” Mendoza said.

Each student will be able to show their true potential by using their models as a blank canvass and just creating an individualized mas­terpiece, he said.

The Cosmetology class does not get a lot of recognition since it is held only at the south valley campus which is kind of sepa­rated from the rest of Albuquerque, Rojo said.

“We want to leave an impression because we want our program to be seen and stand out more because we have the show as a final but just like regular areas of study we also have to study for paper finals and still do our homework,” she said.

This event will allow students to look for­ward to something fun as a final, Mendoza said.

The preparation for the show will take a couple of hours since we have to set up the catwalk and perfor­mance space all while making up our models, he said.

“It will be better than just doing a couple of perms and call­ing it a day,” he said.

With the show getting closer a lot of the students are starting to get that nervous filling and becoming very anxious for the show, he said.

Part time cosmetology instructor Babette Reeves- Harmon said the fashion show will be the fourth term final project which should be a fun opportunity for the students to do something exciting while still putting them­selves out there, she said.

Several years ago there was a fashion show that was done by the whole department but this time around it is just for the students in Cosmetology 2692, she said.

The students were informed that they should approach the local community for donations when it came to the clothing that the models are going to be wearing because it allows them to get out and communicate with the community which is going to be something they have to do regularly once they graduate, she said.

The students will be graded on how well they have allocated time for preparation of the show and the making up of the models hair, makeup, nails, and wardrobe, all the way to how well they clean the location after the show is over, she said.

“We are welcoming all students, staff and faculty to attend the show because we want people to come from all seven campus of CNM to support our little community that is nestled away here in the south valley,” she said.

CNM Celebrates Dia De Los Muertos; Participates in Marigold Parade for first time

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By Guadalupe Santos-Sanchez, Staff Reporter | Photos Courtesy of Alana Garcia

CNM departments and clubs participated in the 22nd Annual South Valley Marigold Parade for the first time on Nov. 2, said Libby Fatta, Student Events and Programs manager for the Dean of Students office.

The Office of the Dean of Students, the South Valley Connect Team, the Hispanic Heritage Task Force, and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society deco­rated a CNM vehicle with paper marigold flowers that they made, she said.

Student club Artworks set up a booth and sold decorated skulls and other ceramics to raise money for workshops and events, said Elizabeth Chavez, Artworks president.

“There’s a lot of differ­ent community floats and other organizations partic­ipating in the parade so I thought it would be fun for CNM to participate as well and show our school spirit and show what we have to offer as a community col­lege,” Fatta said.

Due to the rain, only a small number of staff par­ticipated and not as many people showed up as they would have liked, she said.

The crowd, however, was very interested in the CNM car as they passed by, she said.

“They cheered as we passed them and I think next year we will have a much better turn out since this was the first year CNM participated in the parade,” she said.

Fatta hopes that more people will want to par­ticipate in the parade next year and maybe the school will be able to have a float that students help create, she said.

They were able to pro­mote CNM well this year and next year they would like to get more people involved to have a larger CNM presence, she said.

The group involved with the vehicle wore CNM or navy and yellow attire and the traditional Dia de Los Muertos skull makeup, Fatta said.

Artworks also pro­moted the club and brought awareness to potential students and art­ists about the opportuni­ties at CNM, said Candice Chavez, Artworks vice president.

Artworks was excited to participate in the com­munity event, to stimu­late public interest in arts education, and to create a connection to the wider arts community, she said.

It was a great opportu­nity for CNM and its clubs to be showcased and to show that there is school spirit and participation in community events, Fatta said.

This year the Marigold Parade theme was, “El agua es la vida. No se vende. Se defiende.” meaning that water is life; it is not sold, it is defended, according to muertosymarigolds.org.

The theme was water because it is a crucial issue in the state and the city, the development projects are no good and water is needed, said Maria Brazil, Co-Director of the Marigold Parade.

The parade started off at the South Valley Sheriff Substation and ended at the Westside Community Center, Fatta said.

The parade is always on the first Sunday of November, which in 2015 would be Nov. 1, Brazil said.

The route is also basi­cally the same every year, she said.

All decorations and altars left at the center were cleared out that same day at the end of the event, said Stacy Ruiz, Coordinator at the Westside Community Center.

CNM to celebrate Veterans

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By Guadalupe Santos-Sanchez, Staff Reporter

Starting on Monday, Nov. 10 and continuing on until Thursday, Nov. 13, CNM will celebrate veterans for a second year with Veterans Awareness Week, said Libby Fatta, Student Events and Programs manager for the Dean of Students office.

Events will be held in the Main, Montoya, Westside, and South Valley campuses at various times and the events will include Veteran Resource Day, flag ceremonies, and speeches, she said.

“This year’s theme is ‘Recognizing the Sacrifices of our Women Veterans’ and we expect to have two World War Two veterans and one Vietnam veteran as honorary guests,” said JR Romero, CNM VetSuccess Counselor.

Some of the speeches will be by vet­erans who will most likely be sharing memories and stories from their time in the service, Fatta said.

It is important to make everyone on campus aware of Veterans Awareness Week, she said.

“Showing that we support veterans is a way that the community can see that they do have a lot of support and they are honored and remembered every year,” she said.

The events assist our veterans with acknowledgement of a job well done, Romero said.

They are hoping that attendees rec­ognize all the sacrifices of the veterans to duty and country, he said.

“I think it is so important for us to never forget the sacrifices our veterans and families have endured,” he said.

Some veterans are a lot younger than others and they also need to be recog­nized, Fatta said.

Veterans Awareness Week can facilitate relationships between all veterans, she said.

It allows organizations to provide resources for veterans as well, Romero said.

“John F. Kennedy once said ‘a nation reveals itself not only by the men it pro­duces, but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers’,” Romero said.

“We are encouraged by these words, and we as Veterans know our own personal sacrifices, and it is great to have others spend some time honoring Veterans,” he said.

They are expecting a good turn out from students and veterans and a larger group of people to be at each of the five cer­emonies than in previous years, Fatta said.

They are also hoping that passerby come in and stay for the ceremony as well, she said.

They hope that the entire student body, staff and faculty will participate in the events, especially the flag event on Nov. 11, Romero said.

Starting on Monday, Nov.10 we will provide coffee and cookies for veterans and their dependents on Main, Montoya and Westside campuses from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and that will be outside the caf­eteria areas, Fatta said.

“So veterans will just be able to come up and we’ll give thanks to them and hand them coffee and cookies at that event,” she said.

On Tuesday, Nov.11 they are going to have a flag ceremony on Main campus that is going to start at 10 a.m. in front of the SRC flagpole and the Kirkland Air Force Base Honor Guard will be present­ing the colors, she said.

They will be followed by the Dean of Students, the Director of the Regional Office Chris Norton and a Female Wounded Warrior Christian Barden, she said.

And they will have special, honorable guests that are World War II and Vietnam women veterans, she said.

For Wednesday, Nov. 12 they will have the flag ceremony at Montoya campus near the flagpole from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and it will be the same schedule of events for that, she said.

Thursday, Nov. 13 they will have the flag ceremony at the Westside campus from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and at the South Valley campus from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. and it will be a similar ceremony with the guests they invited, she said.

Ebola risk low at CNM

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By Guadalupe Santos-Sanchez, Staff Reporter

There is a lot of hysteria about the Ebola virus in the United States but the likelihood of there being some­one with Ebola on campus is low, said Marti Brittenham, director of the Student Health Center at CNM.

At this point the risk is low and the number of people in the United States who have had Ebola are few, she said.

Ebola is an epidemic in West African countries such as Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia but it is not an epidemic in the United States nor is it likely to become one, she said.

“So while it’s certainly a frightening disease, because it has a greater than 50% mortality rate in Africa, it is not a widespread disease in the United States,” she said.

Just to be sure, the Student Health Center is asking anyone who goes in for any reason if they have been out of the country in the last 21 days, she said.

There has not yet been anyone say that has reported that they have been outside of the country, but that might change in the spring semester because people go home over the holidays, she said.

It will be more likely that people think they have the symptoms of Ebola when they actually have influenza or the stomach flu since that is very common every winter because those people will be complaining about nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, Brittenham said.

“I’ll probably be making a number of phone calls to the Health Department about getting those people cultured for Ebola which is not going to be a lot of fun,” she said.

However, if they have not left the coun­try in the last 21 days, the chances of them having Ebola are very, very slim, she said.

Ebola is a viral disease and it is not airborne, so a person cannot get it the way they would get the common cold, she said.

“The only way you can get it is by having skin to skin contact or from direct contact with someone’s infected bodily fluids,” she said.

An infected person starts off by not feeling well and having a fever which is usually above 101.3, she said.

The disease may eventually cause diarrhea and vomiting as well, she said.

“The reason why so many people die is that the disease is so violent in the vomiting and diarrhea that it is very difficult to keep up fluids,” she said.

Not being able to keep up with the bodily fluids results in a person being dehydrated and eventually having all of the bodies systems collapsing, she said.

Brittenham and other health care providers have attended several webinars on Ebola from the state department and a national webinar regarding student health centers, she said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is giving recommendations on how to diagnose and treat Ebola, and it appears that Liberia is beginning to get ahead of the outbreak, she said.

“Certainly if there were any suspicion of someone having Ebola the state health department, probably UNM, and the CDC will be contacted and become active in preventative measures,” she said.