Wade Faast – Page 3 – The CNM Chronicle

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By Wade Faast, Reporter

CNM has partnered with Presbyterian Healthcare Services and Adelante Wellness Referral Center to offer healthy cooking and food choice classes.

Vanessa LaGrange, the program coordinator with the School of Business and Information Technology, said that throughout the summer CNM is hosting the classes which are available to staff and students free of charge.

The next class, Quick and Healthy Weeknight Meals, is scheduled for July 9, she said.

It is near full capacity but spots are still available, she said.

Chef Julian Griego is the instructor for the hands on cooking portion of the class.

One of the best ways to eat healthier is to cook your own food, he said.

The June 11 cooking class covered making healthy pasta from start to finish including making dough, using a pasta machine and cooking it properly.

Lysa Martinez, an instructional tech with HWPS, attended with her daughter Jordan Martinez.

“We are always looking for mother daughter activties and this looked like fun,” she said.

After cooking and eating the pasta, students moved upstairs for the second portion of the class, a healthy food choices class taught by Sharon Himmelstein, who works for MSE the School of Mathematics, Science and Engineering.

Presbyterian Healthcare Services pays for the classes, LaGrange said, making them free to anyone that wants to attend.

The next class is scheduled for July 9 and will cover healthy weeknight meals, followed by a class on August 13 covering low sodium heart healthy soups, she said.

Anyone that has other questions or is interested in attending classes can reach Vanessa LaGrange at vlagrange1@cnm.edu.

By Wade Faast, Staff Reporter

On May 15, CNM security officers and employees of Hawks Aloft worked to help a fallen great horned owlet at the CNM Westside campus.

The owlet fell from its nest in a nearby tree, since the owlet remained on the ground in a high traffic area CNM contacted Hawks Aloft, said CNM security officer Ben Encinias.

Hawks Aloft, sent out volunteer Sophia Borowsky to check on the bird and check the situation. Borowsky gave the owlet a physical exam and determined it to be in good health with no obvious injuries, she said.

Shortly after placing the owlet in a tree to keep it out of harms way, Hawks Aloft raptor rescue coordinator Lisa Morgan arrived with the necessary supplies to build the owlet a new nest in a nearby tree.

Morgan explained that the nest the owlet had been living in was too small and inadequate for a bird of its size, which likely explains why it fell to the ground.

The great horned owl adults had taken over a roadrunner nest, Encinias said.

After deeming the owlet was indeed undersized, and was not receiving enough nutrients an amino acid solution was given to help hydrate and provide nutrition for the young owl, Morgan said.

The new nest was built in a tree located in the northwest corner of the campus courtyard and marked off with caution tape and warning signs.

When the great horned owl adults first moved into the courtyard about 2 months ago CNM security taped off a 30 foot perimeter around the tree they were inhabiting, said CNM security Lieutenant Michael Kerr.

“After the baby owl hatched we increased that perimeter to approximately 100 feet because our primary goal is protecting students, faculty and the wildlife,” he said.

Lt. Kerr advises that all students and staff respect the warning signs and caution tape, and give the owls the space they need.

The owls are protected by federal law, Morgan said.

“You can’t harass, you can’t take, and you can’t pet the owls,” she said.

Three people have been attacked by the adult owls, two employees and one student, none suffered serious injury though, said Lt. Kerr.