Issue 17 Volume 20 – The CNM Chronicle

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

November 7, 2014 cnmchronicleLeave a comment

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

November 7, 2014 cnmchronicleLeave a comment

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

November 4, 2014 cnmchronicleLeave a comment

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.