Education

During “UNM-LA on Display: Spotlighting Student Projects,” more than 20 students from the visual arts, humanities, business, science and technology presented projects on what they learned in classes this semester.
Jackie La New, Accelerate Career Technical advisor at UNM-LA and Dr. Irina Alvestad, chair of the Applied Sciences Department organized the event.
“We wanted to share what our students are learning with the community,” La New said. Alvestad worked with department chairs and faculty to recruit students to create the presentations.
Business Administration major David Trimmer modeled a personal investment strategy. Using an imaginary $250,000, he was able to rack up $27,000 in profit in one month.  
“I learned that each stock has a pattern,” Trimmer said. “For example, one of my stocks seemed to go up around 10 a.m. Stocks are also strongly affected by news that comes out about the company. Monitoring the financial news is crucial.”
Using a mobile system they built in Photovoltaics I class, Rene Holaday and Doug Hefele ran a power drill with energy stored in the solar array. Holaday and Hefele work together at Los Alamos National Laboratory and share a passionate interest in alternative energy.

Sixth grade students who participated in the project were eager to talk about their reasons for donating. All had been deeply affected by the images of devastation on their television screens. Many had relatives living in affected areas.

They were proud of contributing their own money to the effort.

“The first night I watched the news and thought, ‘I can help. I just need to figure out how to do that,’ “ said a student named Janessa. “Then the next day, I heard about the fundraiser. I donated $5 and I’m going to give more today.”

“My aunt’s next door neighbor had a tree fall on his house,” Lexy said. “I thought it might help him and help a lot of people.”

“I just wanted to donate because I’m a Boy Scout and just like to help people out,” Shawn said.

“I did it to give people hope, giving hope to the hopeless,” Caleb said.

“I feel we have so much to offer, and Hurricane Sandy destroyed so many homes, we have to give to this,” Anna said.

“I feel great knowing we helped a lot of people,” said Jacob, who has family in Virginia.

If all goes according to plan, Los Alamos High School will soon have its Memorial Garden back.

It’s been a pretty hard road to hoe for the garden.

The garden was removed during a recent renovation to the high school, but was in danger of disappearing altogether until the Los Alamos Rotary Club decided to take it on as a community project.

Then, Rotary Club officials revealed they may not have enough money to complete the project, after underestimating the cost to install the garden by $7,000.

Recently, Skip King, the Rotary Club’s service director wrote a letter to Los Alamos Board of Education President Kevin Honnell, requesting the board help them finish the project with additional funding.

“… I approached Superintendent Gene Schmidt asking for community service ideas. As soon as he mentioned the idea of the Memorial Garden, I knew it was the perfect project for our club. However, I knew it would be a financial challenge for us,” King said in the letter.

He went on to note that the school’s $90,000 landscaping proposal came in under budget and asked the board if they could take funds from that and give it to the club to help finish the garden. He also mentioned that Rotary Club will be in charge of maintaining the finished garden at no cost to the school district.

Whether it’s a hand up, a hand out or just a hand, students in Los Alamos Middle School’s Friends of Rachel Club have been setting an example by using their hands for good.

Whether it’s by giving out random “kindness” bags to students they pass in the hallway or by making posters, members of the Friends of Rachel Club are always finding creative ways to carry out their number one mission.

“We plan ways to keep people aware and informed about bullying and why they shouldn’t do it,” said club member Aubrey Hollon.

The club’s latest project has become a runaway success; just check the LAMS’ cafeteria wall. The club has recently been raising money by having anyone that wants to, dip their hand in some non-toxic paint and press their palm onto a section of the middle school’s interior cafeteria wall.

So, why the obsession with hands? According to Rachel’s Club member Esperanza Tapia, the club is an affiliate of the Rachel’s Challenge organization, which was founded by Rachel Scott’s parents shortly after she was killed in 1999 during the Columbine High School massacre.

Tapia explained that shortly after her death, her parents discovered something behind their late daughter’s dresser that gave them the idea for the foundation.