Wired for community service: Electrical trade students volunteer with Habitat for Humanity
by Tony Covington, Staff Reporter
Volume 17, Issue 13
November 22 - November 28, 2011
Students wired the home in two stages, said Archuleta. The first stage was the rough-end stage, where wiring was placed in specific areas in the home prior to the sheetrock installation, said Archuleta. The second stage was the trim-out stage, where more wiring was added after the walls of the home had been built and painted, said Archuleta.
In the past, Electrical Trade students have not always had the opportunity to do the wiring for both stages, said Archuleta.
“I’m glad Alain let us go back a second time to go ahead and finish everything else up,” said student Eric Lopez, whose group wired the kitchen.
“I like the kitchen because it’s different than other wiring circuits,” said Lopez, adding that this room is one of the more difficult areas to wire.
Jackson Sandoval and three other students wired the living room and two bathrooms. Sandoval said his favorite part of the project, besides being able to help provide someone a home, was what he learned. Because students were at the beginning of their second term when they began the wiring, it was a learning experience for them, he said. “We were pretty green going over there at the beginning of the term,” Said Sandoval.
CNM has been working with Habitat for Humanity since about 1990, when instructor Jon Gabaldon who began the collaboration, said Archuleta.
Archuleta said he will be retiring at the end of the term, but said he is certain that the electrical trades department will continue the cooperative effort with Habitat for Humanity.
“It’s too valuable. I couldn’t imagine the school not endorsing it anymore,” he said.
The students also attended the November 19 dedication of the home, in which community member Alexandra James, her daughter Damariz and son Freddie became the new homeowners. At the dedication, James and her children received many donations from the community, including a quilt made by the New Mexico Quilter’s Association, a painting by local artist Pam Edwards, and a garden basket with flower and vegetable seeds gifted by New Mexico Prepare.
“Me and my kids are just happy to be here and be a part of this organization,” James said during her speech.
James read a few stanzas from poet Aisha Patterson’s poem “Home” to the audience of her friends, family, and volunteers.
“Home is the place your heart resides. Home is the place that you decide,” James read.
The Electrical students were also gifted a tile recently by Habitat for Humanity for their efforts in the project, according to cnm.edu.
Cormier assault pending investigation
by Paula Bauman, Editor-in-Chief
Volume 17, Issue 13
November 22 - November 28, 2011
Full Time CHSS Instructor Steve Cormier has been put on paid administrative leave pending an investigation, according to Communications and Marketing Relations Director Brad Moore.
Cormier has been accused of assaulting Part Time Sage Instructor Cheryl Brown during an argument in the Montoya’s H-Building earlier this month, according to sources.
The incident took place after Brown entered the cafeteria area on November 3 to investigate the loud music coming from the area, said sources.
Sources allege that Brown entered the room and put her hands on the guitar being played by one of the performers invited to of the inaugural Montoya Campus Faculty Music Guild event, said sources.
At that time, Cormier led Brown by the arm from the room, according to witnesses. It is unclear if that is the alleged assault, or if something more occurred after Cormier and Brown were out of sight.
Witnesses said that Cormier led Brown gently from the area, and began a quiet but heated conversation.
Cormier received permission for the performance through authorities that were not aware of the layout of the Montoya Campus, nor of the use of amplifiers, according to sources. Cormier also failed to alert campus administration of the event, said sources.
A report was filed with security shortly after the incident. Security has declined comment at this time as the investigation is still open.
Picking Pells Poison
by Nick Christian, Staff Reporter
With a plan from the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction scheduled to be released this week, students around CNM wait to hear if the summer term Pell Grant will be cut.
“That would be a big decrease in the whole educational system,” said student Kaye Reeves. “There’s not that many people that have their own money to pay for college.”
“I think that’s b.s.,” said student Jamie McCormick.
“We wouldn’t be able to go to class during the summer,” echoed student Janine Hargrove.
Both the House of Representatives and Senate have proposed changes to the Pell Grant for the 2012 fiscal year.
Some of the highlights of the House proposal were: eliminate funding for less-than-half-time students; lower the income amount for automatic zero Estimated Family Contribution to $15,000; add sources of untaxed income to those that determine their own Estimated Family Contribution; child tax credit; welfare benefits; estimated income tax credit; foreign income excluded from federal tax; untaxed social security benefits; special fuels tax credit.
The proposed changes would cut $4.3 billion from the Pell grant program by removing 554,320 students and lowering the student average grant by $240, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
The main highlight of the senate proposal would be eliminating the in-school interest-free period for all students.
There was no data available regarding how much money would be saved in this proposal.
Students and college administrators around the country are watching the situation carefully as evidenced by websites like studentaidalliance.org. The organization, according to the website, is a coalition of 62 higher education organizations who support financial aid. The website currently has close to 113 thousand signatures of support from people in higher education institutions throughout the country.
“Any elimination of financial aid programs; whether it’s Pell Grant, or subsidies on loans, FSCOG, or federal work study; would certainly impact our students,” said Assistant Director of Financial Aid Sarah Elliot. “Granted, the budget committee and Congress have a lot of work to do, because there are shortfalls and they are trying to balanced things, but for particularly our students - who rely on financial aid - some of these proposals could make a significant difference."
Functionality restored to CNM’s servers
by
Volume 17 Issue 12
November 15, 2011
Effects of outage felt by students
After a college-wide network outage that interrupted services to MyCNM, Banner and Blackboard, service was restored to all CNM Friday, Nov. 11, according to CNM’s Marketing and Communication Office.
One of the students the outage affected was Angelica Sandoval. She said not having access to Blackboard affected her week.
“I’m a level two nursing student, so I watch a lot of the lectures she posts and I’m studying for exams, and I was just like, ‘crap,’” said Sandoval.
A student who can attest to the registration aspect of the outage was Anita Martinez.
“It was pretty annoying,” said Martinez. “I have to bill something and I have to be registered by the time the bill goes through.”
A talk with Skip
by Jyllian Roach, Managing Editor
Volume 17 Issue 12
November 15, 2011
46-year-old English major Tienas “Skip” Van de Slunt said that having AIDS for 16 years hasn’t stopped him from experiencing life.
“What I tell people is that I have AIDS, but AIDS doesn’t have me,” said Van de Slunt.
Diagnosed in 1995, Van de Slunt said that he contracted the virus from his significant other who lied about being clean and being monogamous. Lying about a person’s HIV status had just become illegal in Van de Slunt’s resident state of Minnesota, he said.
“My family wanted me to press charges, but at the time, I wasn’t willing to. It would’ve been the first case tried which meant it would’ve been all over the news and I just didn’t want to deal with that,” said Van de Slunt
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