Education standouts
Gabriella Ottersberg Enriquez of Santa Fe has been named to the fall 2017 Dean’s Honor Roll at Oklahoma City University.
These local students have been named to the fall 2017 semester Dean’s List at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo.:
Teslin Ruge of Las Vegas, N.M., a biology major; Kyle Romero of Santa Fe, a business administration major; Alyssa Evans of Santa Fe, also a business administration major; Melissa Wysocki of Los Alamos, an exercise specialist major; Christina Stanton of Santa Fe, a writing major; and Marcus Martinez of Taos, a writing major.
On Feb. 10, the annual ARTsmart’s Children’s Painted Ceramics Project announced the 2018 winners for painted dinner plates, salad plates and, new for this year, flower pots. One hundred Santa Fe fifth-graders were chosen to transfer their painted designs to ceramic objects: a salad plate to keep and a piece to be sold March 3 at ARTsmart’s annual dinner and auction at La Fonda on the Plaza. The 2018:
Grand prize: Plate by Ndezolth Sauceda-Benally from Nina Otero Community School.
First place: Plate by from Salazar Elementary School.
Second place: Plate by Naomi Alvarez Gomez from Kearny Elementary School.
Honorable mentions: Plates by Day Salcido from Kearny Elementary School, Dylan Starr-Salcido from Chaparral Elementary School, Elissa Bruneni from Turquoise Trail Charter School, Sandra Almanza from Nina Otero Community School, and Christian Herrera and Kaya Brenier from E.J. Martinez Elementary School; flower pot by Briza Soto from Salazar Elementary School.
The Luna Community College Student Government elected its executive officers earlier this month. They are Jessica Weber, president (STEM), Elizabeth Bachicha-Conner, vice president (mathematics) and Maria Crisostomo, secretary-treasurer, (nursing). Student senators are Amber Trujillo (dental assisting), Andre Shenk (nursing), Julio Serna (general studies) and Chantel Rivera (dental assisting). Reconstituting the student government was integral to building shared governance at the college.
Jessey Martinez was selected to the New Mexico Phi Theta Kappa All-State Academic Team. Martinez, a criminal justice major at Luna Community College and a native of Mora, was recognized at the state Capitol recently.
Martinez will graduate in May with an associate degree in criminal justice and intends to enroll at New Mexico Highlands University in the fall, majoring in political science and minoring in pre-law. As a member of the All-State Academic Team, her full tuition will be covered. Martinez’s dream of being in Phi Theta Kappa and earning an education almost did not happen. During the 2013-14 school year, she was battling kidney cancer.
Martinez intends to eventually earn a Juris Doctorate from The University of New Mexico and is leaning toward becoming a prosecuting attorney.
Three new associate deans have been hired at Santa Fe Community College:
Shalimar Krebs is the associate dean for liberal arts and arts, design and media arts. Krebs taught media arts at Santa Fe Community College for five years and has worked closely with the English faculty while serving as the Tutoring Center coordinator. He earned a master’s degree in educational leadership from New Mexico Highlands University and a bachelor’s degree in documentary studies, as well as three associate degrees from SFCC: physical sciences, general engineering and biological sciences.
Colleen Lynch is the associate dean for sciences, health, engineering and math and the School of Fitness Education. Lynch began as a Learning Lab manager for developmental studies and then became tutor coordinator, grant writer and Tutoring Center director. She has been lead faculty and either chairwoman or co-chairwoman of the Mathematics Department since 2006, and has chaired the Curriculum Committee since 2014. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the College of William and Mary as well as a Master of Arts from St. John’s College.
Brooke Gondara is the associate dean for trades, advanced technologies and sustainability and business, professional studies and education. Gondara has five years of university-level, tribal and community college teaching experience and is focused on student success. She has a doctorate in education with an emphasis in community college leadership from Oregon State University, a Master of Education in curriculum and instruction, and completed postdoctoral studies at Harvard University in the study of presidential leadership.
Shannon McQuillan of Santa Fe started coursework at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., Jan. 8 as a transfer student. McQuillan’s major is biology.
A team of students from Los Alamos High School won a regional competition for the 2018 National Science Bowl and will advance to compete in the national competition this spring in Washington, D.C.
The National Science Bowl brings together thousands of middle and high school students from across the country to compete in a fast-paced, questionand-answer format where they solve technical problems and answer questions on a range of science disciplines including biology, chemistry, earth and space science, physics and math.
Camila Seluja of Santa Fe has been placed on the Gettysburg College Dean’s Honor list for outstanding academic achievement in the fall 2017 semester. The college is in Gettsyburg, Pa.
Gloria Gadsden, a Highlands University criminal justice professor, received the office’s Everyday Hero Award. Gadsden, who joined the Highlands faculty in 2012, said she always strives to provide a safe space where students can be themselves, something she said she didn’t have in college.
Gadsden’s research focus is the intersection of gender, race and sexuality. At Highlands, she teaches courses such as criminal justice system, institutional corrections, criminology and comparative systems of social control. Gadsden holds a number of leadership roles at Highlands. She is the undergraduate coordinator for the criminal justice major, the graduate coordinator for public affairs applied sociology and the chairwoman of the Academic Affairs Committee.