Features

Staff, faculty and students have come together to insure the success of the electrical engineering program at UNM-LA. Pre-engineering program director Oksana Gerlits and Bachelor and Graduate Program Manager Cindy Leyba are working together to ensure a smooth transition to upper division classes for students pursuing a career in electrical engineering.

“Despite the ending of our contract with Los Alamos National Laboratory and the loss of those funds, we have plans to not only continue, but add to the engineering program,” Leyba said.

On Thursday, school staff headed back to work to get ready for some 3,405 students that will follow in their footsteps this week.

The staff was entertained by Nathan Eklund, a lead educational consultant for the Search Institute, home of the 40 Developmental Assets.

The wisdom Eklund imparted was a nugget of knowledge that should be gleaned by everyone in the community. The visual was to punch the shark.

The Tools for Schools project got underway Aug. 6 and 7 when members from the Unitarian and Bethlehem Lutheran churches unloaded a truckload of school supplies.

Each year the Tools for Schools project donates thousands of dollars in school supplies to at-risk students in poverty, to ensure that all students start the year with the tools they need to accomplish their academic work.

The project’s vision is to help students identify positively with school by minimizing the embarrassment of not having

adequate supplies.

UNM-LA has yoga classes to suit everyone this fall

Who needs yoga? According to UNM-Los Alamos yoga instructor, Siri Deva Khalsa, the answer is “everyone.”

“The more civilization progresses, the more we need yoga,” he said.

For the young, yoga provides mental discipline and good techniques to discipline the mind.

“Yoga is the perfect antidote to electronic media,” Khalsa said. “While modern media scatters your attention, yoga has the opposite effect.” It helps you focus and relax at the same time.”

The next meeting of the Los Alamos Geological Society (LAGS) will be at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Christian Church, 92 East Road.  Joyce A. Guzik, Ph.D., of Los Alamos National Laboratory  will give a talk entitled, “Journey to the Center of the Sun.”

Although we know more about the sun than any other star, only the surface is directly visible. How

do we know what is going on inside? This talk will discuss how scientists use a variety of tools, including acoustic waves, to see beneath the sun’s exterior, a subject known as helioseismology.

The first week of assets month, has been great. If the community is ready for the game plan, we have one.

Our plan is to break the assets down into the eight categories and pay tribute to one category a month. The plan will go like this:

• September — Commitment to learning;

• October — Support;

• November — Empowerment;

• December/January — Positive identity;

• February — Social competencies;

• March — Positive values;

Editor’s note: Dana Crooks underwent surgery this summer in North Carolina and is recovering. She wrote this story because she wanted to share her experience.

During the summer, some people go on vacations in paradise or have family reunions to attend. Some people go on road trips across the country. Some get jobs to earn money for college or that new car they want. Others just want to make the best of it and enjoy the break from textbooks and piles of homework.

ESPAÑOLA — Ten years after the Cerro Grande fire damaged it, the Vallecitos de los Caballos Trail (Trail 277) has been re-opened.

The work was completed earlier this month by a Student Conservation Association (SCA) crew through a Forest Service agreement funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act).

Michele Worley found inspiration close to home for her children’s book, “Buster Goes to the White House.” Her dog Buster was the model for the fictional Buster and the two have a lot in common. Both dogs were adopted from the animal shelter and both are feisty, if small.

“Buster does all the same things as Buster in the book,” Worley said.