Tag: Student Spotlight

CNM Student’s Dream Came True When She Went to NASA

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By Hilary Broman

Senior Staff Reporter

Antonella Riega, a biology and Spanish major, dreamt of going to NASA ever since she was a child, but she said that she never thought it was realistic.

After seeing a flier for the National Community College Aerospace Scholars program, she spoke to one of her friends who applied and Riega decided to apply too.

Riega was one of the students chosen out of 600 applicants to take the 5-week long online class.

The 5-week class focused on planning to create a rover that is meant to go to Mars.

The students who did well in the class were asked to go to the on-site experience at NASA, Riega said.

“I didn’t think I would get in,” she said, but at the end of the 5-week program Riega was invited to go to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Riega was surprised to see 3 more CNM students there.

“It was nice to see some familiar faces,” she said.

On the first day of the experience all the students were divided into small groups of about 6 people, she said. 

“Each group was a company and our mission was to get funds from NASA to send our rover to mars.”

Each person in the group was responsible for a different job such as; hardware design, software design, and publicity.

After they designed the rover they presented it to the NASA officials, and their rover was tested on how it moved and if it picked up rocks.

“Our rover kind of fell apart on the first time, it did okay but, in comparison to the other teams it didn’t do well,” Riega said, “But then in the second round we actually won!”

Riega and her team worked tirelessly to get the rover working, she said.

“Most days we woke up at 6am and worked all day until 2 or 3am into the next morning,” she said.

It was exhausting, but worth it, she said.

“We were mostly excited to see our rover work,” she said, “we were like, ‘Oh my god! We made this.”

Riega said that it was nice to see how in four days some random strangers could become really close.

“By the end of the four days we were all friends and we still talk to each other.”

After Riega’s experience she is reconsidering her childhood dream; working for NASA might not be as unrealistic as she thought.

Although working for NASA was always a dream of Riega’s as she grew older she realized that she wanted to go into medicine.

“I always thought that only engineers worked at NASA, but I found out that there is a surgeon who works at NASA who is also an astronaut,” she said.

Riega would like to finish her schooling and residency before she decides whether or not she wants to work for NASA, but it definitely an option, she said.

Riega’s advice for students who are thinking about applying for this program is to “just apply.”

“If you get into the online program don’t fall behind and if you get into the on-site experience, make the most of it.”

For more information about the National Community College Aerospace Scholars program click here

 

 

 

 

Student Spotlight: Jackie Tafoya

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Story and Photo by featured contributer Edward Oelcher

Blowing up ants, drawing, and not attending school was a normal childhood for CNM student Jackie Tafoya, unlike today a chemistry major hoping to graduate summer of 2017.

Not having a formal education and attending CNM isn’t as strange it may sound.

For Tafoya now eighteen years old says his mom taught him basic arithmetic so coming to CNM at the age of sixteen he didn’t feel completely incompetent but agrees that it was a bit of a struggle at first.

Recently students being homeschooled are now able to apply for dual-enrollment in college courses which led Tafoya to begin college.

He now studies chemistry and mathematics and hopes to obtain an associate degree, adding, “I took humanities classes but it was all kind of squishy where there is inductive reasoning and you can kind of put your opinion anywhere” he said.

Being home schooled hasn’t hindered Tafoya from graduating with a liberal arts degree in summer 2016, he also admits he is proud of maintaining a 4.0 GPA.

Now Tafoya says, “most of my life I felt dumber than a lot of people, I felt bad about that. Coming to CNM I realized it wasn’t so hard.”

For many young students they can agree that social situations are difficult at times realizing that there is tradeoff between social skills and academics.  

Tafoya does admit to struggling socially and that it may have been because he didn’t have many friends growing up so meeting people in college was difficult at first.

Like many young academics he wants to in some way to help humanity and believes that science can help him achieve that.

On his free time Tafoya can be found working with clay making stop motion or playing one of many favorite video games, Minecraft.

“I like the idea of trading perspectives and knowledge” Tafoya said when asked what he enjoys most about being a part of academic clubs at CNM.

It isn’t always about learning for Tafoya, who also enjoys the movie Interstellar, “I love the idea that humanity is going to die out because they couldn’t keep themselves alive and not because of some great disaster” he said.

Interestingly enough Tafoya jokingly mentions that he thinks humanities demise will come from “people just not being born so there won’t be anyone to replace the old” Tafoya said.

Growing up homeschooled and not having a formal education helped make Tafoya who he is adding, “I wouldn’t be the same person if it wasn’t for [being homeschooled] and maybe I’d just be some douche, I really can’t complain.”

So if you still haven’t gotten a clue yet Tafoya says he describes himself as uncomplacent, afraid of conformity (not that he doesn’t conform), and being intellectually mad.

“It’s not that I’m anti-conformist it’s just that I’m afraid to loose what fragments of individuality I have. I think the most interesting thing about me is that I exist” Tafoya said.

Tafoya hopes that when he finishes his associates degree he can work towards possible going to New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, but hasn’t yet made any final decisions.

Never Too Young To Go Big

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By Hilary Broman, Staff Reporter
Iris Delval is a 16-year-old psychology major at CNM who is also an artist, a singer, a baker and a writer.
She had always been interested in psychology but it was her Intro to Psychology teacher who inspired her to change her major from medical lab technician to psychology, she said.
“She loves her job. It’s incredible how she talks so passionately about her work,” she explained.
Delval’s goal is to specialize in clinical psychology, she said.
Delval is half way through the psychology program at CNM and she will receive her associates degree by the time she is 17 years old, she stated.
“A lot of people think I am in the dual enrollment program,” Delval said, “but I graduated high school when I was 15.”
Delval went to a charter school when she was younger, she skipped ninth grade and then finished up her diploma at an online school, she explained.
“It’s different being in college, I never really had the high school experience in a classroom setting,” she said.
Although Delval is busy with school she also takes time to focus on her creative outlets, she stated.
“I love to bake!” expressed Delval, “I’ve been baking ever since I was young.”
Delval bakes for events for family and friends, she said.
“I’ve never made a wedding cake but I recently made cannoli for my brother’s wedding,” she explained.
Her specialty is cheesecake, she said.
She has made cheesecakes for a couple of her classes and said that she hopes to open her own bakery one day.
Delval also enjoys drawing and she believes that art will help her in her career as a clinical psychologist, she explained.
“I think that art is a stress relieving activity,” she said.
She thinks that art will be a good tool to use to help her future clients relive stress, she explained.
Her artistic inspirations come from abstract and surrealist art, she said.
Delval specializes in pencil and sharpie drawings, she said.
“I am taking an art class next term! I am excited because I’ve never taken an art class before,” she said.
Delval stated that her parents are extremely supportive in all her professional and creative endeavors.
She also enjoys singing as a hobby, she said.
“My dad wanted me to try out for The Voice,” she said, “but I prefer to sing just for the love of it.”
Delval realizes the importance of making time for creativity to blossom while pursuing an education, she said.
“I’m also writing a sci-fi book!” Delval explained excitedly, “I’ve been working on it for about a year!”
When Delval finishes her degree she hopes to move to Pennsylvania for a change of atmosphere, she said.
“It’s not too hot, it’s not too cold and it rains a lot there. I love the rain,” she said.
For now, Delval is concentrating on finishing her associates degree at CNM and enjoying her creative outlets, she said.
To check out Delval’s art and contact her to bake for events follow her on Instagram at the_lovely_iris_
https://www.instagram.com/the_lovely_iris_/

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.