Tag: Guadalupe Santos-Sanchez

In our own words |CNM Chronicle staff speak about transition from print to digital

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By Guadalupe Santos-Sanchez, Managing Editor

The CNM Chronicle has printed its last issue and in the future will be providing news solely online.

News will be up to date and easier to access online.

“From a production point of view I think it’s easier to maintain it online. We can upload stories as we get them and it will be more convenient,” said Melissa Shepard, liberal arts major and CNM Chronicle Production Manager.

Fewer people will read it because CNM is not known for having an online news presence, she said.

It will be good to see where The Chronicle goes as a digital newspaper, said Jacob Perea, fine arts studio major and CNM Chronicle Cartoonist and Distribution Manager.

“But I think less people will read the paper now and if the paper is not sitting there in stands, I feel that some students, staff and faculty won’t remember to check us out online,” he said.

But it could be good to be digital because some people also would not get a chance to read the paper because copies would run out, he said.

“There is no such thing as running out of copies when you are online,” he said.

It is sad to see print going out of style now a days, said Lucy Honorato, early childhood multicultural education major and CNM Chronicle Senior Layout Designer.

The idea of going on line is good though since that seems to be the way everybody is getting there news now, she said.

“I think print journalism is in a weird place right now and I don’t like seeing another print newspaper going down,” Shepard said.

It will also be an uphill struggle to get an online readership, she said.

Seeing another paper stop printing is hard, said Jack Ehn, CNM Chronicle Faculty Advisor.

“I grow up with the print newspaper and some people expect me to be bothered by going digital but I’m really not, I actually think it is an interesting thing to experiment with,” he said.

Being able to figure out all the different things that a paper can do with online journalism is an important thing for students to figure out, he said.

Especially since it seem that all media is now transferring to digital and moving towards all the different online mediums, he said.

Shepard said that from a production standpoint going online makes things a little easier.

The ability to upload stories whenever they come in makes the availability of breaking news better for the students, she said.

Honorato said, “For me personally, because I do design, I guess it is going to be nice because I will get to work on the website and get that extra experience.”

Getting to work on different styles of journalism will help to build a better resume, she said.

Perea said, “I guess because I am distribution it will be the easiest for me to switch since I will just stop delivering the paper.”

It does allow the opportunity to try other things though like cartooning and other responsibilities around the office, he said.

CNM Student Perspectives:

By Edgar Gonzalez, Staff Reporter

Question:

How do you feel about the CNM Chronicle switching from a printed publication to a fully electronic publication?

Answers:

“I think that having the paper be fully online will not be a very smart move for the chronicle,” said Zoe Soto Criminology major.

“I have seen the online version of the paper like a sort of pdf and that version combined with the printed version was okay,” she said.

“I don’t see any reason for the paper to take away the paper version from the readers,” she said.

 

“I like this idea of the chronicle going fully digital,” said Carlos Martines Computer Information Systems major.

“This gives people a better way to check for the current news updates and information that is needed for students that attend CNM,” he said.

“I am very busy with work and school so I never have time to go anywhere so picking up a copy of the paper is very difficult,” he said.

“The only thing is that the chronicle would need to make it very clear on how to get the news the new way,” he said.

“This is also a very good way to save trees and be friendlier towards the environment,” he said.

“I am glad that the chronicle is reducing its harm on the environment,” he said.

 

“I don’t really think that the change in the paper will impact students at all,” said Diego Flores engineering major.

“I think most students are indifferent to the change since most of the people in today’s generation really do not care about the news, and if they do I think they just look at Facebook or something like that,” he said.

“The paper is smart though, it is nice to see a change once in a while, this way students have more access and it keeps their attention,” he said.

“I really do not follow the news, but this way at least it makes it easier for me if I want to find something interesting to do,” he said.

“I can see how this can affect students in a really bad way,” he said.

“Students that do not have any internet access will not be able to get the news,” he said.

“I think that students should be able to get the news even if they are not able to connect to the internet every day, so that is one way that the paper might be making a mistake,” he said.

 

“It’s very cool that the chronicle is doing this change,” said Joseph Crowder fire science major.

“Students will be able to know what is going on all the time at the school,” he said.

“Having fast and reliable news is extremely important for everyone attending college,” he said.

“Distractions like the activities the paper covers are a great way to keep students active and safe while they are attending college,” he said.

“Going out and doing activities that the paper suggests are much better than going out and doing dangerous and unproductive things like drinking or partying all the time,” he said.

Book Review: Cash Your Investmen

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By Guadalupe Santos-Sanchez, Managing Editor

No matter what stage of education a student is at, they will undoubtedly need to start looking for a job after graduation.

So, it is never too early to go about learning how to do that, and with S.A. Eberwein’s novel, Cash Your Investment: How to Leverage Your College Degree into a Great First Job, students can get a nice head start.

Cash Your Investment sets out advice on preparing for and securing a dream job in five chapters filled with many pointers and many real life experiences.

Eberwein makes sure to start off the first chapter on advising the reader to “master their mind.”

In fact, Eberwein said he hopes that readers realize how much control of their futures they actually have.

“Sure, a great résumé certainly doesn’t hurt, but belief in yourself can go a long way,” he said.

The rest of the chapter is a briefing of the content of the following chapters.

Second chapter of the book breaks down the importance of having a mentor and the qualities that a mentor is preferable with.

The largest portion of the book is the third chapter, which itself is broken down into seven subsections about searching for a job, which resources to use, and how to capitalize on opportunities that the student does get.

And the last two chapters go more into detail about interviewing and résumés, with chapter five including Eberwein’s progress on his résumés.

The writing style and many of the terms used by the author may get excessive at times, but a reader can see that as emphasis or look past it to find that the book really does contain a lot of good advice and practically outlines a plan for job hunting and finding.

Eberwein said he wanted to create a job search resource with advice that is supplemented with real life examples, and he appears to have achieved that.

Cash Your Investment could have been an easier read with an informal style or different vocabulary, but it is worth it for the reader to endure reading a more formal writing style in order to receive such advice.

Although Eberwein writes throughout the book a bit more specifically about corporate jobs, his advice can be applied to other areas.

Cash Your Investment: How to Leverage Your College Degree into a Great First Job was released January 25, 2016 by Brown Books Publishing and is available on Amazon and some bookstores for an average price of $19.95.

Alumni Spotlight: Vincent LaVolpa

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By Guadalupe Santos-Sanchez, Managing Editor

Vincent LaVolpa is the owner of Green Joe Coffee Truck and a CNM alumni who has led an eventful life and is soon to add author to his list of accomplishments that started when he first enrolled at CNM.

“My story began at CNM and that’s kind of cool,” LaVolpa said.

LaVolpa dropped out of Highland High School and soon after enrolled at CNM to receive his GED.

He then enlisted in the Army but not before receiving a certificate in Call Center Operations from CNM, then TVI, he said.

He did a tour overseas in Iraq and Germany, and a year after returning home, enrolled again at the CNM paramedic program.

“I was an EMT basic, I had no experience and I was the only one in my class that they let through with no experience,” he said.

He worked for the Albuquerque Ambulance as a paramedic until 2013 and after was a lead paramedic at MD Urgent Care, he said.

He also went on to get his bachelor’s degree at UNM in the same field, he said.

“It had been about 10 years at that point that I went from the combat field to the emergency medicine field and I was just tired of kind of seeing people kill each other,” he said.

LaVolpa wanted something different, so the thought was to open up a coffee shop, he said.

He had been working as the operations director of a local nutrition fitness company 70 hours a week, 6 to 7 days a week, he said.

“It paid well but I never got to see my wife and it was just a mess, so I remember having the conversation with my wife, very specifically saying, I think I want to open a coffee truck,” he said.

Green Joe in Italian is the Guiseppe Verde, and the Guiseppe Verde was a transatlantic passenger ship that made voyages from Italy to Ellis Island and brought his grandfather to this country, he said.

“So I named the coffee shop after that vessel because that was the vessel that he used to follow his American dream, and this is the vessel that I’m using to follow my American dream,” he said.

LaVolpa gave the truck an Italian feel with the canopy, the shutters, and the red and white checkered floor, he said.

And the whole idea behind the old newspapers on the ceiling of the truck was to have a little bit of America’s history up there, he said.

“The whole concept behind this was to follow your dreams basically, which is a big jump sometimes, it’s not easy to leave a steady paying job,” he said.

The coffee truck does deliveries for staff, they can text LaVolpa their order and location, he said.

They give discounts to teachers and staff, public service, prior and current city of Albuquerque employees, all medical staff, social workers, volunteers, and single parents, he said.

They serve free coffee to Purple Heart veterans and cancer patients, he said.

“I think if someone can take a bullet for the country or go through chemo and radiation, they deserve a cup of coffee on me,” he said.

The Green Joe Coffee Truck can be contacted at 505-385-2663 and at the website http://www.greenjoecoffee.com.

The e-book will be up for sale on the website, iBooks, Kindle, and a couple other e-book platforms, he said.

“I’ve been working on it since the beginning of the truck and I’ll have that on the website hopefully in the next 30 days,” he said.

It is going to be a document with pictures and videos and information on how to build the floors, how to install plumbing and how to make different espresso drinks, he said.

It will be a resource for people that are looking into getting into the coffee truck business and something that they can start off of, he said.

“And to be honest, if I could have bought an e-book when I started this thing it would have saved me $4,000 because I made so many mistakes, like I’ve burned out generators from too much wattage and I put in this floor twice, this was a penny floor at one point and I had to put tile over it because it was a mess,” he said.

LaVolpa likes coffee because for him it is all about community, he said.

This community has been really good to him and he has enjoyed taking care of them as well, he said.

“I call coffee the fuel of passion. When someone comes to get a cup of coffee it’s because they got something to do, they’re on a mission and coffee is like this catalyst of people’s dreams, and I’m stoked about that,” he said.

Health Center now Counseling Services

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By Guadalupe Santos-Sanchez, Managing Editor

The CNM Health Center is now called Counseling Services because medical services will no longer be available, said Brad Moore, director of communications and media relations.

The number of students accessing the services was declining and due to challenging budget conditions the school decided to remove the Student Health Services Center, he said.

“It is uncommon for community colleges to offer such services and we were the only school in the state who did,” he said.

The Health Center originally was designed for students who did not have any health care but now that everyone should have it with the Affordable Care Act, they decided that they should be helping students get to their own doctors and their own health care, said Phillip Bustos, vice president of student services.

The office will continue to provide information on outside medical services and on the Affordable Care Act, Moore said.

The Affordable Care Act should be available to everyone because it depends on a person’s income, Bustos said.

Students who used the medical services and want to get their medical records can email the contact center at contactcenter@cnm.edu or call at 505-224-3000.

The mental health services will be enhanced, Bustos said.

The Samaritan Counseling is on staff along with CNM employees to continue to provide up to eight counseling sessions per student, he said.

Students will be seen on a free basis for things such as mental health issues, counseling, and test anxiety, he said.

If students need more than eight sessions, counselors help students make arrangements for long term care that they can get through the Affordable Care Act or other insurance, he said.

Bustos said that they will be looking at the number of students using the services every month and make changes in accordance, so they might increase the number of visits per student.

The Wellness Center, or the gym, will still be open, he said.

It will be in part monitored by the Vet Success Center, which they are hoping will be set up in that same space, he said.

The Vet Success Center is in partnership with the New Mexico Veterans Affairs Health Care System and it provides support services for veterans along with achievement coaching and advising but specifically for veterans, Bustos said.

The Vet Success Center helps veterans get readjusted to civilian and college life, he said.

The main thing that makes them different is that it is Vets helping Vets, and so all of the individuals that are employed there are veterans, he said.

“We intend to really continue to serve students, we’ll help them find any needs that they have with community resources as well as private doctors, so if they have any questions they’re welcome to still come to the old health center and ask any questions, we’ll try and help them however we can,” Bustos said.

The health center closed for intake walk-in services on October 31, 2015 and both of the health center employees retired, he said.

They had two student employees that they were hoping to keep employed in the new center, he said.

Editorial | Cultivando Consciousness marches in remembrance of 43 missing students

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By The Chronicle Editorial Board

The South Valley Dia de Los Muertos Parade that occurred on November 1 this year included

the graduate student collective Cultivando Consciousness consisting of UNM students marching

with family and friends in representation of the 43 missing students from Ayotzinapa College.

As students, we at CNM should also be aware of and more involved with situations concerning

our peers all over the world.

This demonstration should serve as a reminder to not take things for granted. To speak up when

something is on our minds and especially when others are trying to shut us down. For our

brothers who had to die to be noticed.

In the parade, the collective walked to remind the community that the issue is still present.

September 26 of this year was the one year anniversary of the mass kidnapping of students from

Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico. It has been a year and Mexican officials have yet to account for 43 of

those students.

The 43 missing students were from a public college specifically for training teachers. Students at

the college were mostly from lower income families and on the day that they disappeared along

with about 60 other students they were on their way to protest their government favoring funds

for urban colleges over rural ones.

The students had acquired buses for their trip to Iguala and were reportedly stopped on their way

by police in an attempt to prevent them from carrying out the protest. The students attempted to

drive away and in the car chase police opened fire on them killing two students and prompting

many others to flee. A majority of the students were arrested and supposedly handed over to a

gang to be executed.

Many people still hope that the students are alive and in fact demand the Mexican government to

return them alive because they were taken alive.

Cultivando Consciousness like many other groups refuse to let the missing students go forgotten

because they represent those of us that get overlooked for being small. They represent the

problems that are often times rooted in the governments. And the levels of violence that these

governments are willing to reach to avoid confrontation and to instill fear in anybody else

looking to speak up.

We owe the missing students our attention and support. We must not let their intentions be

forgotten. We must not let them die in vain. We can continue what they started by being aware of

our situations here with our own governments.

Oh Snap! Students benefit from new S.N.A.P. rules

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By Guadalupe Santos-Sanchez, Senior Reporter
Students who are enrolled in a Career Technical Education program (CTE) at CNM may now qualify for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, said CNM Connect achievement coach at CNM Connect, Sally Moore.
Simply being enrolled in a CTE program serves as a qualification for SNAP benefits and students are not required to have a work requirement, she said.
“Most students when they go to the Human Services Department (HSD) are often being told that, no matter what, they have to be working 20 hours a week, but there are eight other ways that students can qualify beyond work¬ing,” she said.
They can just be students, go to school full time, and not have to work 20 hours a week, she said.
If students are enrolled in a Career Technical Education program, or are over 50 years old, or are working 20 hours a week, they may qualify for SNAP benefits, she said.
All employees at the CNM Connect Centers are trained to help people with their SNAP application, she said.
Students can complete their application online on the yesnewmexico.org website, she said.
Their application will be date stamped and when they submit it to HSD they can prove that they did apply, she said.
Online they can also check the status of their claim and or request for benefits, and even if they didn’t apply online they can also do their renewal online, she said.
It is beneficial if they pick up a Financial Aid and Budget verification form at a Connect Center or Financial Aid office, she said.
They only fill the top part of the form and then take it to Financial Aid, where Financial Aid and Admissions fills in the remaining sections of the form. Students can then pick up the form at Records and submit it online, she said.
“The Center of Law and Poverty is just an excellent source if the student believes that they should receive benefits but they weren’t awarded,” she said.
Students can fax in an appeal if they’ve been denied; all the Connect Centers also have appeal forms and brochures about knowing your rights but only law and poverty can assist with the appeal, she said.
And usually HSD will want to settle before the hearing, she said.
“Sometimes it’s just that the HSD worker wasn’t trained or didn’t remem¬ber, and the student will be awarded through the hearing process,” she said.
Students have to appeal within a certain number of days after applying, she said.
Students can request a hearing up to 90 days of the date they were noti¬fied. If they want to keep their regular benefits until the hearing they must request a hearing by the 13th day
“This new rule is a huge advantage, students really need this money,” Moore said.
There may be as many as six or seven thousand students who qualify that are not currently getting benefits, she said.
“Many students have so much trouble juggling family, school, and work,” she said.
SNAP benefits can mean that students may not have to work and they can really thrive in their schooling, she said.
They can comprehend the material better because they will be eating better and will not stress trying to get to work, she said.
This is important because SNAP provides students with a regular source of nutrition assistance. Without food students cannot study, learn, pay atten¬tion, or graduate, said Louise Pocock, staff attorney with New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty.
“While students are in school they are still impoverished and they need assistance, and I think Congress was aware of that,” Moore said.
The general rule is that college students are not eligible for SNAP, and over the years congress has created many exceptions to that rule so that low-income college students use food stamp benefits as a resource to help them complete school, Pocock said.
In the 2014 farm bill, congress created a new exception that allows any student in a CTE course to qualify for food stamps, assuming that they meet income and New Mexico residency requirements, she said.
New Mexico HSD has pledged to begin applying the exception as of September 19, 2014, she said.
Many students who come to community colleges are already in poverty and are coming to college to get out of poverty, Moore said.
“That’s the intent of food stamps, to help people take the rough edges off poverty and to enable people to eventually thrive,” she said.
About half of the students who attend CNM receive financial aid, she said.
“So if they’re receiving financial aid, they have a financial need, what level of poverty that is I’m not familiar with,” she said.
A living wage and poverty are two different things, she said.
The measure used for poverty no longer works to identify whether or not a person can live on the income that they receive, she said.
When the measurement of poverty was created, it said that one-third of the funds that a person spends would be towards food, she said.
“Now food is a much smaller amount of the total funds that are spent. People now have to buy car insurance and health insurance. Prices have gone up; school tuition has gone up, costs of books, gas, living expenses, deposits, utilities have all gone up,” she said.
So much has increased that students have a very difficult time maintain¬ing and meeting
In the fall students have to be able to budget the funds that they receive in September all the way through February because they are not going to get their spring semester funds until three weeks after the semester starts, she said.
“I know that a lot of students here don’t have housing and they’re hungry,” Moore said.

Halloween Recipes

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Severed Halloween Finger Cookies

From bigoven.com

Ingredients

2 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla

¼ teaspoon almond extract

1 cup softened, unsalted butter

1 cup powdered sugar

3 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

2/3 cup granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup blanched whole almonds

Red food coloring

Preparation

In small bowl, combine whole eggs, egg yolks vanilla and almond extracts.

In a separate large mixing bowl, beat the butter, flour, powdered sugar, gran­ulated sugar, and salt until well combined.

Add the egg mixture to this large bowl and mix thoroughly to form your cookie dough.

Unroll a rectangle of plastic wrap onto counter. Form a log shape with your dough and wrap dough in plastic wrap. Refrigerate dough for 30-40 minutes, or until firm.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

When dough is firm, cut dough into 4 equal portions. Remove 1 portion at a time to work with, while keeping other portions refrigerated. With each portion of dough, divide into approximately 15 equal pieces and form your finger shapes by rolling dough in your fingers to create a cylin­der shape. Work quickly while dough is cold, as the warmth of your hands may make your dough too moist. Lay out each finger cookie onto the parch­ment paper-lined cookie sheet.

When all 15 fingers are done, take a sharp knife and indent each finger with the wrinkles for the knuckles to make them look realistic.

Then, take an almond and press one into the end of each finger to represent the nail. Bake at 350 degrees F for 12 minutes or until golden.

Towards the end of the baking process, check cookies and indent again, if needed.

When cookies are done, indent or make any changes necessary while cookies are still hot. Allow to cool on wire racks.

Repeat process with remaining dough.

When cookies are cool, make bloody effect if you wish. Mix red food coloring paste with water until you reach your desired shade of red color. Using a small pastry brush, “paint” your blood around the cuticle of each fingernail.

These cookies may look gross, but they are very tasty!

Vegan Candy Corn Bites

Ingredients

1/4 cup soy milk powder, plus more for rolling

3 tablespoons cashew butter

3 tablespoons brown rice syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch of finely ground sea salt

1 1/4 teaspoons ground turmeric, divided

Preparation

Lay out parchment or wax paper over a half-sheet pan or cookie sheet. Sprinkle lightly with soy milk powder.

In a large bowl, mix together soy milk powder, cashew butter, brown rice syrup, vanilla, and salt. Knead until a Play-Doh-like con­sistency forms. Divide dough into three parts.

Carefully stretch and pull the first part into a long rope shape, about 1 foot long and 1/2 inch wide. Place on the lined cookie sheet.

Working in a bowl, knead 1/4 teaspoon turmeric into the second part of dough. Once it’s dyed yellow, repeat the process of stretching and pulling it into a long rope shape, about 1 foot long and 1/2 inch wide. Place on the lined cookie sheet, about 1 1/2 inches away from the white section.

Working in a bowl, knead 1 tea­spoon turmeric into the third part of dough. Once it’s dyed orange, repeat the process of stretching and pulling it into a long rope shape, about 1 foot long and 1/2 inch wide. Place on the lined cookie sheet, between the white and yellow sections.

Carefully squeeze and press the three dough ropes together. Flatten with the palm of your hand to create one even, thick rope. Transfer to the freezer for 15 minutes.

Remove from the freezer, and using a sharp knife, cut into 32 even triangle shapes. Although candy corns can be eaten at room tempera­ture, it’s best to transfer to an air­tight container, each layer separated with parchment paper, and store in the freezer. Before eating, let them thaw slightly.

Inter$ession; Financial aid, and classes offered during winter break

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By Guadalupe Santos-Sanchez, Staff Reporter

Financial Aid will be offered for intersession, said Lee Carrillo, senior director of Financial Aid.

Students do not have to apply separately to receive financial aid for intersession, the FAFSA application for 2014-2015 is the only application that needs to be com­pleted, he said.

How much financial aid a students receive depends on the hours they enrolled in and their eligibility, he said.

“Tuition for intersession courses is the same as full term courses for each individual student,” said Yolanda Pacheco, associate director of Academic Advisement and Job Connection Services.

Intersession will be from Dec.29, 2014 to Jan.18, 2015, she said.

Intersession is a term in between regular semesters in which select classes are offered in a condensed format, she said.

It provides students with the opportunity to shorten their time to graduation, she said.

“The majority of intersession courses are only offered as 100 percent online or as a blended course,” Pacheco said.

There are some courses that are offered in person, according to cnm.edu, these courses are offered in the Main, Montoya, and Rio Rancho campuses.

Most intersession courses are two weeks, but it varies and depends on the credit hours of the course, Pacheco said.

The schedule of classes at cnm.edu will show exact dates, she said.

Courses are currently listed for the dates Dec.29 to Jan.18, Jan. 5 to Jan.11, Jan.5 to Jan. 18, and Jan. 12 to Jan. 18, according to cnm.edu, meaning that courses are 3-weeks, 2-weeks, or 1-week long.

“I think it’s a good idea because a lot of students might just need that one class to graduate so they just take it during that term and they’re done,” said Lucy Santos, Early Childhood Multicultural Education major.

Students who do not want to spend three or four months on a class can also take it during intersession and get it out of the way, she said.

In person classes are only offered at some campuses, which can be an inconvenience, she said.

“If they are going to offer classes, they should do it everywhere so that it will be equal and everyone has an opportunity to do it,” she said.

The exact time frame depends on the individual course, Pacheco said.

Courses range from being three hours long to being eight hours long, according to cnm.edu.

The length of an intersession course varies, again based on the credit hours, Pacheco said.

“However it is estimated that for a 3 credit hour course a student will be expected to commit 65 – 70 hours per week to successfully complete the course,” she said.

This is because the student is covering the same amount of course work, reading, and assignments in a few weeks that he or she would be covering in a regular semes­ter, she said.

“It has to be condensed, I mean they have to get all that info in just a couple of weeks you just have to dedicate a lot of time in those two weeks,” Santos said.

Students give up their holidays, so they have to make sure that they are willing and able to sacrifice that, she said.

But it saves you from spending a whole semester in a class, and the main point of intersession is to save time and graduate faster, she said.

“Blended courses range from 51 percent to 99 percent online,” Pacheco said.

The amount of time spent online and in class depends on the individual course, she said.

Condensed online courses are probably not a good idea, Santos said.

“If you’re online you start slacking off, at least in the semester you got time to catch up but in a condensed course you only have two weeks and no time to slack off,” she said.

For in person classes, a student knows that they have to show up and do the work, she said.

The CNM Schedule of Classes at cnm.edu can be a bit confusing at first glance, said Michael Faulhaber, Health, Wellness, and Public Safety instructor.

For example, as it pertains to Health 1001 courses, he said.

“Being that the class is a blended course there are two sets of dates: the first set is the start and finish dates of the course and the second is the week in which the skill labs meet,” he said.

Pacheco said she would refer students to Schedule of Classes at cnm.edu to find out whether a course is being offered online or in person, and on what campus.

Fractacular; Students present annual fractal show

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By Guadalupe Santos-Sanchez, Staff Reporter

The many months’ worth of hard work and research done by CNM students was put together for the Math League’s fourth annual Fractal Show, said Vicki Kelsey, Math League president.

The CNM Student Math League hosted this year’s Fractal Show on Nov. 21, she said.

“We look at different aspects of fractals, it is a huge research project that members of the math league do so that we can present this show,” she said.

The hard work and research done by all of the stu­dents that put this together rivals the work and research that is presented in any major research university, she said.

Every year the show is different and presents differ­ent aspects of what a fractal is, she said.

“The presentation is meant to inform and teach, so we set up our presentation to focus on different things,” she said.

The goal of this presentation was to show people how math really relates to their everyday world, in both complex and ordinary ways, she said.

This year the presentation consisted of an intro­duction to fractals, the Fibonacci sequence, fractals in nature, fractals in a complex plane, and the golden ratio, Kelsey said.

The whole presentation also included interac­tive activities and visuals that were passed around to the audience.

This year the show consisted of presenters like DJ Lopez, Vicki Kelsey, Chris Bryer, Eric Torres, Vidar Sanchez, Greg Dugay, and many other people that have a love for fractals, said Math League faculty advi­sor Judy Lalani.

Fractals occur all throughout nature and the universe, Kelsey said.

It is the repetition of self-similarity, so a fractal is something that is looked at down to the smallest dimensions in a microscope and shows similar copies of what it looks like in its larger state,” she said.

“Mathematically we can compute that self-similarity is basically what some people would call defined chaos,” she said.

The Fibonacci sequence was thoroughly explained by Physics League president Chris Bryer and Physics League vice president Eric Torres.

“The Fibonacci sequence is found all over in nature, it is also in architecture and art, and it is an infinite sequence that just repeats itself over and over,” Bryer said.

Fractals were shown in Fibonacci sequence in nature, in art and architecture, and even in a song, he said.

The presentation also allowed for the further expla­nation of how the Fibonacci sequence, the golden ratio, and irrational numbers all relate, said Torres

The presenters also used interactive activities to help better visualize the Fibonacci sequence and the golden ratio, he said.

Vidar Sanchez, secretary of the Student Math League focused on the fractals in nature part of the presentation.

“There are two main characteristics of fractals that I encourage, one is that they are everywhere and the other is their feature of self-similarity,” Sanchez said.

To help the audience better visualize fractals and self-similarity in nature a Romanesco broccoli, which is a plant with a self-similar form was passed around the audience, he said.

Aside from speaking of fractals in nature, Sanchez also spoke of fractals in technology and in medicine.

Aaron Legits, Student Math League treasurer pre­sented the topic of fractals on a complex plane.

At the end of the presentation, audience members were given the chance to ask questions that were then answered by the faculty advisor, Judy Lalani.

The Student Math League is a chartered student organization that meets to work every Saturday at 10 a.m. in the JS building, room 303, Kelsey said.

They hope, with the Fractal Show, to peak people’s interest in math and the Student Math League, she 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.