Northern Faculty & Students Partnering with K-12

Northern New Mexico College is committed to community outreach in our K-12 schools. That can be as simple as opening the campus for community events to faculty dedicating time and energy to mentoring local students. The faculty and students in our STEM programs are especially active in providing mentorship and learning opportunities for local schools and community groups.

The New Mexico STEM Mentor Collective

Dr. Steve Cox, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering, is immersed in outreach activities. He founded and manages the NM STEM Mentor Collective, which develops and delivers exciting, mentor-fueled, hands-on STEAM programming in K-12 classrooms in Northern New Mexico. The Collective believes that kids learn best in small groups under caring mentors doing hands-on work in the classroom. They recruit and train college-age mentors, encourage K12 students to recruit mentors into their lives and support K12 teachers through focused Communities of Practice.

The Collective was touted as a model for professional mentorship development in hands-on STEM education in  Expert Mentors: A Professional Development Model for STEM and Maker Education Implementation and won a STEMY (New Mexico Excellence in STEM Award)  from the Air Force Research Lab Tech Engagement Office in 2019 for best Outreach in NM Higher Education. Its key partners are STEM Santa Fe, the LANL Foundation, the Computer Science Alliance and Moving Arts Española. It has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Santa Fe Community Foundation, Encantado Foundation, Anchorum Health Foundation, Indian Resource Development, and New Mexico Public Education Department.

Mentoring projects have included a weekly lunchtime Robotics Club at Carlos Vigil Middle School. building Heart Drums at the Santa Fe Indian School, building Laser Guitars at Capital High School, Milagro Middle School and Santa Fe Indian School and building Smart Bridges at several schools.

The Collective also offers two training courses in mentorship itself. The Mentor/Leadership Seminar is a 16-week one-credit discussion-based college course on the foundations of effective youth mentoring. Expand Your Network of Caring Adults is a seven-week program that provides youth with strategies for valuing and acquiring caring mentors. 

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVz0s8kt060&t=605s

Dr. Cox and his engineering students have also mentored Española Valley High School’s (EVHS) Math, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program for a project that could significantly improve the lives of Parkinson’s patients. The students are designing a glove that applies small brief vibrations to the fingertips to alleviate symptoms of the disease. The project has received coverage from KRQE and The Santa Fe New Mexican. Read more at (new link to full story).

Math Partnerships with Dr. Ana Vasilic

Dr. Ana Vasilic, Associate Professor of Mathematics, is engaging with local organizations committed to improving math outcomes for students in Northern New Mexico. She has presented at workshops run by Math Amigos, a nonprofit dedicated to helping teachers inspire kids to love math and  partnered with STEM Santa Fe to bring the Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival to the NNMC campus.

Dr. Vasilic can relate to the challenges both math teachers and student face, having taught math at all levels from elementary to higher education

“I feel that teachers need our support, as many teachers in the region are worked out and stretched thin,” Dr. Vasilic said. “That passes on to students and students don’t get the most of their math education. Talented students who would be interested in STEM or math are not getting the best of it because teachers are always helping the ones who are struggling to get by .”

Dr. Vasilic is helping those teachers build capacity through her work with MathAmigos. MathAmigos is dedicated to helping teachers and families, from Pre-K to Grade 9, inspire kids to embrace math and excel in it in over 20 Santa Fe Public Schools as well as in rural and pueblo schools in Northern New Mexico.

“It was a great opportunity for me to meet some teachers and hear what their needs are, what their problems are, and to establish those one-on-one connections with them.”

Dr. Vasilic is brainstorming with MathAmigos about hosting more math events at Northern’s Math Center of Excellence. 

Dr. Vasilic has also worked with STEM Santa Fe to bring the Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival to Northern. STEM Santa Fe is a nonprofit on a mission to promote STEM disciplines among New Mexico youth and support underrepresented groups in STEM. The Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival is an educational organization that sponsors locally organized mathematics festivals. Their play-based approach to solving math puzzles is designed to show every student that they can have fun problem solving.

Dr. Vasilic, along with student, staff and faculty volunteers from Northern, participated in two Julia Robinson Math Festivals at NNMC.

Additional outreach activities

Northern students may also engage in outreach to local schools and families. Chemistry students Tatum Maestas-Hall and Gina Trujillo visited NNMC's alumni Camille Ulibarri's 2nd grade class at Pablo Roybal Elementary school, where they used "Elephant Toothpaste" and "Coke and mentos" experiments to help the kids understand the chemistry behind these popular activities. 

NNMC student Chris Perez was among the first of five "Live United" interns hired to perform duties to further the work of United Way of Northern New Mexico (UWNNM) to improve the lives of children and families through service collaboration.

Every summer, Northern hosts the LANL Foundation’s Inquiry Science Education Consortium (ISEC) Program Science Teachers' Institute. ISEC is a hands-on science program for grades K – 6. During the four-day training teachers from eight school districts and two tribal schools in Northern New Mexico (Dulce, Chama Valley, Mesa Vista, Jemez Mountain, Espanola, Santa Fe, Peñasco, Pojoaque, Ohkay Owingeh, & Kha'p'o) learn the program by doing the same experiments they’ll be teaching their students.