Here’s a look at today’s local news:
The New Mexico Community Foundation has named three Aldo Leopold Charter School students as recipients of the 2019 “Ella, Michael, Ella Memorial Scholarship. Izabela Chase, Gayla Lacy, and Emily Cox have been named to receive the scholarship that was established in loving honor and memory of the Aldo Leopold Charter School students, Ella Kirk, Michael Mahl and Ella Myers who lost their lives in a small airplane accident in May of 2014. The New Mexico Community Foundation is the entity that manages the Scholarship Fund and the selection process for the awards that are made each year. To be eligible for the Scholarship, students must have a 3.0 grade average or higher, be a graduating senior from Aldo Leopold High School the year that the scholarship is gifted, and have plans to enroll in full time accredited program.
The Grant County Sheriff’s Office has donated a 2010 4-wheel drive Chevrolet Silverado to the Western New Mexico University’s Police Academy. This is the second service vehicle to be donated to the Academy by the Sheriff’s department, and will contain all the working equipment except the computer. Students are able to get vehicle experience during their academy training time and the two available vehicles allow for more efficient usage. Graduation for the 64th WNMU Police Academy Class will be on June 21st.
Deming Public Schools Superintendent, Dr. Arsenio Romero, has been named the National Superintendent of the Year by the National Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents. The organization is comprised of a coalition of public school leaders from around the country and focuses on providing leadership and promoting the needs of Latino youth. Dr. Romero, was nominated by his peers and competed with nominees from all over the United States.
The office of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, issued a release announcing that the Governor signed an executive order establishing a “New Mexico 2020 Complete Count Commission” regarding the 2020 U.S Census. Next year’s census will be the first to gather a majority of responses online, which poses a challenge to New Mexico, already considered to be a “hard to count” state. According to the release, “Almost four in five Native Americans in New Mexico live in what are considered ‘hard-to-count’ Census tracts, as does more than half of the Hispanic population. The commission, composed of state Cabinet secretaries as well as tribal and other community representatives, will promote and advertise the Census; focus resources on hard-to-count areas and populations; support and coordinate with local complete count committees; and guide the disbursement of resources as a means of ensuring the highest participation rate possible. The latest Census estimates project that roughly 43 percent of New Mexico’s population, or 900,000 people, lives in “hard-to-count” areas.
