Community News

SILVER CITY, NM - Adult Education Services is not a well-known part of the educational offerings at WNMU, but Adult Education Services Director Colton Bjerke hopes to change that.

Bjerke, who joined the university in 2022, is working to increase public awareness of the services offered, as well as to expand services in areas of southwest New Mexico that are underserved.

Bjerke explained that his office provides three different programs. "The most well-known one is the high school equivalency, which is preparing students to succeed on the GED or HiSET," he said,

Silver City, NM – Gila Regional Medical Center is dedicated to providing exceptional, patient-centered care for all visitors of Gila Regional Medical Center. As the construction on 32nd Street continues, the road entrances to the Emergency Department (ER) and Patient Financial Services (PFS) building will be temporarily closed off until further notice. GRMC is providing a map to help patients, visitors, and medical staff how to safely make their way to their needed destinations.

If you need to make it to the ER, please follow the blue arrows below. Cones, caution tape, and signage will be placed for assistance. If you need to make it to the PFS building, please follow the orange arrows which will direct you to the stairs and second road entrance to get to the building. All parking lots will be open.

Front to Back (left to right): Nathaniel Castillo, Kaelin Dogherty, Kai Shaw, Eva Engstrom, Faith Pellegrino, Emma Smith, Ronan Euler, Siobhan Pyper, ENMU Host, Jaime Villanueva, Emma Blanco, Sal Arroyo, Jackson Hould, Sebi Castello, and Wyatt Meador.Aldo Leopold Charter School (ALCS) drama students under the direction of teacher Zach Tecca traveled to Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU) on February 20-24 to participate in the 67th annual high school drama festival. The festival consists of one-act plays presented by participating schools, numerous workshops, professional development for teachers, social gatherings, and networking opportunities for students and educators from every corner of the state and nearby Texas.

The school won an "Excellency in Self-Written Work" award for their original play "ALCS's Dreamy Drama Dramatizations." The class will be performing this locally, on a date to be determined. And following individual auditions, seniors Ronan Euler and Nathaniel Castillo received scholarships to attend ENMU.

On February 20-23 the 10th grade class at Aldo Leopold Charter School under the direction of history teacher Pete Rankin embarked on the school's annual trip to the southern border and low desert county. In Rankin's description of the trip for school families, he writes:

In our life-long quest to understand where we live and where we come from in time & space, we are heading down from the mountains of our beloved Gila, across the Tumacacori Highlands & into the Salt River valley around Phoenix. It's time to learn about art, biology, culture & humanity's ‘capacity to endure' while focusing upon three engaging and historically relevant themes throughout modern world history, (i) international human rights, (ii) human identity & migration, and (iii) how our species deals with conflict. To engage in experiences that guide us in becoming conscious of the biological, social, economic and political realities that form our collective heritage.

Left to right: Susan Mittelstadt, Secretary, Linda Ortiz, Finance Officer, Lydia Villegas, President, Mary Ann Sedillo, Vice-President, Jimmie Terry, Sergeant-At-Arms Membership of "Fight Like A Girl" a 501 C3 Non-Profit Organization; an organization that will provide skills and assistance to empower women/girls and will also strive to train women/girls to strengthen the workforce in our community.

With this letter "Fight Like A Girl" asks you to become part of our Team that will be providing support, assistance and empowerment to girls and women mentally, spiritually, academically, socially, emotionally, and physically through education and scholarships that focus on social skills, behavioral skills, self-esteem skills, leadership skills, and or job skills.  We plan to offer mentoring and offer support to other organizations that support our mission.  We plan to empower girls and women of all ages so they can enrich their lives and our community.  One of our major goals is to create and encourage the growth of a healthy and powerful workforce in our community through our organization.

Agenda for meeting and event below:

Seated (from left to right): Deidranee Abeyta, Faith Pellegrino. Standing: Jessi Ann Crocker11th graders Deidranee Abeyta, Jessi Ann Crocker, and Faith Pellegrino are engaged in a paid internship for the spring semester monitoring air quality in Grant County. This internship is offered by Allyson Siwik at the Gila Resources Information Project (GRIP) in collaboration with NM-INSPIRES Community Engagement Core (University of New Mexico). They installed their first air quality monitoring stations on Friday, February 16 and look forward to installing more throughout the county.

Members of Preceptor Tau recently honored Marylee Bell as their Valentine Sweetheart. Marylee is one of the chapter's newest members and is a great asset to the chapter. She has become involved in all the various activities, including her current duties as treasurer. Members honored her with a lunch, Valentine pin, roses, cake and crown. Even though the chapter calendar was adjusted to reflect a winter break, members continue to join for birthday celebrations and lunch outings.

Photos and article courtesy of Lucy Whitmarsh

Thomas ColeOn Sunday, February 18 Light Art Space gallery owner, Karen Hymer,  hosted the inaugural book launch of "Restoring the Pitchfork Ranch" authored by A.T. Cole, owner of the Pitchfork Ranch along with his wife, Lucinda. The book was published this month by the University of Arizona Press. The event at Light Art Space was the first of many talks and book signings that will be offered in New Mexico and Arizona. A list of the upcoming events can be found on the University of Arizona Website.

The event on Sunday was well attended. Guests enjoyed a talk by the author about the writing of "Restoring the Pitchfork Ranch" and mention of materials covered in the book. After the talk, the author had copies of the book available for sale and signed the books that guests purchased. David Wait, displayed engraved woodcuts that were used to create prints at the beginning of each chapter in the book. Wait also created cards from the woodcuts that he prints on a press that he built.