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Commencement Stories 2012
All of this year’s commencement events went smoothly, and plenty of folks worked hard to make that happen. First and foremost, the credit belongs to the students. Northern has now sent 27 new teachers, 21 nurses, 26 managers with bachelor degrees in Business Administration, six engineers, as well as many more in the humanities and social sciences, biology, and math… and 12 massage therapists--in case all those other new grads get too stressed out!
In preparation for the week’s events, both faculty and staff took on new roles. Faculty for the most part could look proudly on as their students crossed the stage being congratulated by local dignitaries, the Board of Regents, President Barceló and College Deans. But some were flag-bearers for their departments or marshalls for the processional.
Staff were on hand to usher, answer questions, corral the faculty and platform party, and urge the graduates to process in the right direction. KDCE radio was there for a live remote broadcast, and the facilities staff took care of infrastructure nuts and bolts.
At each of the separate departmental events, there were special moments that reflected the various cultures that intersect here at Northern. At the College of Education Graduation Ceremony, Española Valley High School music instructor Brian Wingard sang The Star Spangled Banner, along with one of his students. Wingard (standing sixth from left) graduated this year from the CTE's Alternative Licensure Program. An invocation was performed in Tewa by Ohkay Owingeh Lt. Governor Patrick Aguino.
Behind the scenes
Northern New Mexico College’s facilities department once again did an outstanding job readying the campus for Commencement 2012. According to Facilities Director Andy Romero (pictured right), his crew prepared for six graduation ceremonies and rehearsals for those ceremonies within one week. In addition to the GED and main Commencement ceremonies held (within the same twenty-four hour period) in the Eagles gymnasium, the Fine Arts theatre hosted both the Business Administration Graduation and the Nurse Pinning Ceremony. The Child Development Center graduation took place in the Fine Arts amphitheatre, and Teacher Education had a ceremony in the lobby of their building. All of this meant that chairs, tables, podiums, screens, and other normally stationary objects were moved, sometimes more than once during a day, to new locations to accommodate all of the various events. And let’s not forget that the same crew must dismantle everything and have the campus back to normal by the start of work on Monday!
But through it all, the staff are very organized and everyone remains calm and focused because they have effective leadership in their department. Says director Romero: “We have twenty-two people, and everyone has their own duties. We get it done.”
The bookstore staff also had their work cut out for them when they opened the “Spirit Shop” at the gym. Jeannie Roybal and her staff were busy wrapping flowers, selling flip flops, T-shirts, and other Northern-branded items during both the GED and Commencement events.
The Littlest Graduates
The Bear Cubs will move on to conquer kindergarten, while the Bumble Bees will stay here in the hive for another year.
Johnna Aguino spoke first, saying, “It is remarkable to see the kids grow and watch the parents grow with them,” Aguino mentioned that many of the parents are also students at Northern and some are single parents. She also acknowledged that CDC staff do become attached to their little students: “it is hard to see them go!”
President Barceló spoke as well, congratulating the children, while also referencing research that shows children who attend pre-school are more likely to attend college. Dr. Barceló encouraged all of the children to become Northern students in the future.
At Northern’s Child Development Center, there are two groups of children: The Bumble Bees, who are aged three to four years. The older children, aged four to five, comprise the Bear Cubs class.
In the case of the Bear Cubs, the staff make sure that the children are ready for kindergarten, while the younger set are prepared in a broader sense, learning how to be in groups and trying out their social skills.
At the event, both groups performed and showed their knowledge of the past year’s lessons. This year the theme was “Our Five Senses.” To the tune of “Brother John,” the Bumble Bees sang, “Five senses, five senses - we have them, we have them…” and to the tune of “Farmer in the Dell” they sang “I use my nose to smell, I use my nose to smell…”
The Bumble Bees were followed by the Bear Cubs who sang “Springtime Song” and another song about the senses to the tune of B-I-N-G-O.
Both classes recited narratives about the senses as well, and the audience learned from the first group that the eye muscle is the most active muscle in the whole body. One group of young scholars provided an interesting fact: “the external muscles that move the eye are the strongest in the whole body; they are one hundred times more powerful than they have to be!”
The next group proclaimed that “the inner ear helps to keep your balance.” As each group took the stage, they provided a different fact about the five senses, including some reminders that children perceive the world more sharply than adults: “When you are born you have ten thousand taste buds; when you get older you only have five thousand,” followed by “children are more likely to have a better sense of smell than their parents and grandparents.”
The event also featured two parent speakers. Luz Chacon remarked on the high level of organization and the friendliness of the staff, and added that “this is a milestone for our kids; we want to teach our children to be happy,” then she read a poem. The other parent speaker, Kim Archuleta, graduated May 12 with a certificate in Massage Therapy. So both mother and daughter crossed milestones this spring.
As the Bear Cubs migrated to the center of the stage to receive their certificates, the Bumble Bees ran down the steps to sit with their families. The diminutive grads were dressed splendidly, with one young lady sporting a tiara, a wrist corsage, a bouquet of spring flowers, a bunch of balloons, and gold-colored strands of Mardi Gras beads with mortarboard-shaped medallions. Overall, the heels were not as elevated as those worn by last year’s female Bear Cubs, and there were not quite as many pairs of shoes with flashing lights on the boys. Still, the kids looked great; clearly, style was much more than an afterthought.
Johnna Aguino spoke again to close the ceremony, reiterating the importance of preparing the children for whatever comes next in their lives, and calming their trepidation about the changes to come. For example, some who go on to kindergarten will no longer be in school together. “It may not seem like a big deal to us,” said Aguino, “but in their little eyes it is.”
GED: a new start and a better fit for some
The first student speaker at Northern’s GED graduation ceremony, Melecio Padilla, had a compelling story: He had difficulties in high school and with work. It is not an unusual story for many who return to school after a hiatus from either secondary or post-secondary school. Padilla contacted Northern’s (High School Equivalency) HEP program and felt comfortable immediately with the small class sizes and with the other students.
“What a great program I stumbled upon; all the tools I needed were here,” said Padilla in his May 11 speech, “Without Northern, students like me would not have been able to reach our goals.”
According to HEP Director Donald Martinez, Padilla “came here to inquire about our program after he dropped out of Pojoaque High School.” After some encouragement from Martinez, Padilla took the placement tests as required for entry into the program. “His scores were very good and he didn’t need the one-on-one help that so many of our students need. He finished the ten week program in six weeks, and spent the next four weeks tutoring other students.”
Anthony Ortiz, who finished his basic coursework for the GED in Northern’s Adult Basic Education (ABE) program, spoke as well. “The importance of education eluded me. It seemed better at the time to drop out of high school and get a job.” Then, Ortiz continued, “I became a father and was working two jobs to support my family.” After a divorce, then being laid off, he spoke of a “domino effect.” He ended up moving in with his mother and sister while struggling to pay child support. Ortiz subsequently enrolled in Las Cumbres Fatherhood Program; counselors there urged him to return to school.
“I came back and found out I had a knack for academics.” Now that he has received his GED diploma, he plans to continue his studies at Northern, focusing on Science and Engineering.
State GED Testing Program Director Lisa Salazar provided the keynote speech, remarking that completing a GED “is not an endpoint; it is a powerful second chance and a starting point to continue on with lifelong learning.”
The mood in the Eagles gymnasium turned celebratory as Northern’s GED Examiner Pamela Montrose presented Northern’s GED class of 2012. Graduates in purple gowns and mortarboards, carrying flowers and gifts, talked excitedly in the lobby of the gym while KDCE radio host Casey Gallegos interviewed some about their future plans.
Main Ceremony
After Ted Griffith and Louise Oesterreicher sang the United States National Anthem, Buffalo Dancers from Ohkay Owingeh entered to the sound of drums and singing, blessing the crowd with success and good fortune.
This was followed by Provost Anthony Sena’s introduction and President Barceló’s welcoming remarks. Dr. Barceló emphasized the importance of family and named a mother and two daughters who were graduating together. She also spoke to the crowd about the dual mission of the College in granting both two- and four-year degrees and thanked students, faculty, and staff for their hard work and their dedication to Northern.
Student speaker Marzia Dessi began with a quote from Lewis Carroll’s “The Walrus and the Carpenter:” The time has come the walrus said to speak of many things…
Dessi is the first graduate from the dual credit program, and received her associate’s degree in General Studies. She will also graduate from Espanola Valley High School this year. Clearly, she has enjoyed the journey:
“The discoveries I made along the journey became more important that the destination,” she said, “even though I had to write the same essay over and over and over again!”
Dessi invoked Dante, saying that she could not have navigated the journey without her “Virgils,” or Northern faculty and staff. She thanked her classmates as well, and seemed genuinely to enjoy the moment.
“Congratulations, Class of 2012: today is your day!”
Nursing Baccalaureate Rebecca Archuleta (pictured left) lauded her classmates and instructors. Even though, she said, “we were pushed beyond our comfort level…but that has taught us to become leaders in our profession—while at the same time learning to follow.”
Archuleta went on to say that she has learned self-reflection and how to practice and teach self-care, which she defined as “anything you do to honor yourself as an individual.”
Commencement Day was also the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, whom Archuleta described as “a statistician and philosopher who believed in the power of good food for good health, and who raised awareness so that conditions could be improved for the British armed forces during the war.” Archuleta finished with this praise of Nightingale, and with congratulations and encouragement for her classmates.
Keynote speaker Dr. Kurt Steinhaus applauded the students’ messages. He spoke of the power of education to turn a life around, and asked the graduates to stand up and acknowledge those who helped them along the way.
Dr. Steinhaus also gave the students his top ten pieces of advice, beginning with “find and follow your passion; that is, find something that makes you work hard,” and “[a]lways remember where you came from and build a career that is culturally relevant,” finishing with “if you can find a way to help someone get their work done while getting your work done, then you have built a valuable partnership.”
Once the degrees were conferred, there was a second celebration in the Eagle Gym, with hugs, smiles, and flowers all around.
Nurse Pinning
The final event of commencement day is always the Nurse Pinning Ceremony. This event was well-attended by families and friends of ADN grads. Speaker Dr. Kathleen Maley began by washing her hands with hand sanitizer. “Always begin with washing your hands.”
“Nurses,” said Dr. Maley, “are the glue that holds the Health Care system together. A nurse must be able to tell the story of the patient.”
She went on to emphasize the importance of critical thought, referring to “the Nightingale Nurses,” who protested the tobacco industry. She urged the graduates to “[b]ecome activist nurses in fighting for people’s health.”
Students spoke as well, followed by the beautiful ceremony of lighting the candles, symbolizing the light of Florence Nightingale, “The Lady with the Lamp.” Nurses also received their pins and caps, also symbolic as caps are no longer worn by nurses. It was a lovely ending to a long week of celebrating success and accomplishment in the Northern community.
Gallery photo by Meredith Garcia
Photos this page from top: Opening photo and Andy Romero by Meredith Garcia; College of Education celebration by Todd Lindblom; Little Graduates by John T. Denne; GED graduate by Todd Lindblom; Student speaker Becky Archuleta by Jolesch Photography, and Nurse Pinning afterparty photo by Todd Lindblom.