Determined to learn

High-speed driving, firing semi-automatic weapons and learning the challenges facing air marshals in an uncertain world were all part of a recent day’s diverse education for the class of 2011 in Leadership New Mexico’s flagship Core Program.

Many of the 39 community leaders who comprise the class took in a tour of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Artesia before plunging into the heart of their fourth core session — education in New Mexico — the next day at the headquarters of Yates Petroleum, an industrial icon in the southeastern part of the state.

“This session was really a great one, it really was,” said Leadership New Mexico co-founder and president Patty Komko of the March 31-April 2 event.

Education issues

Katy Haycock of the Washington, D.C.-based Education Trust, speaking in Artesia, highlighted the key issues facing education at a national level, while Sen. Vernon Asbill, R-Carlsbad, a 34-year educator himself, touched on this year’s legislative developments concerning education.

Program participant Lashonda Seay, vice president of finance for the Albuquerque office of food distributor Sysco New Mexico, said she also was impressed by a presentation by Margie Huerta, president of the Doña Ana Community College.

“It was really good to hear about some of the programs here in New Mexico we are establishing at that level to improve our graduation rates and help children take advantage of the community college experience as well,” Seay said.

Participants got some hands-on experience at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

“We actually were able to shoot a Glock 9 (semi-automatic pistol) and Sub-9 rifle,” Seay said. “They also took us out on their driving course, which teaches up-and-coming officers how to drive a vehicle in (emergency situations), taking sharp turns and how to do that safely.”

No, they didn’t get to drive.

“We’d probably kills ourselves if we did,” Seay said with a laugh. “It is a very acquired skill.”

Bulldog pride

Participants also got an up-close look at another institution of great community pride: the Bulldog Bowl, home to the 27-time state champion Artesia High School Bulldogs, which among many other features has a museum devoted to the town’s rich football tradition.

“It felt like I was going into a college stadium,” Seay said.

The group has a pair of sessions to go — in Farmington in May and Taos in June — before becoming the 15th class to complete the program.

Leadership New Mexico was founded in 1995 on the premise that informed leaders are better leaders, affording business, community and government officials opportunities to learn about and confront the challenges facing New Mexico. The organization strives for diverse participation, selecting men and women of all ethnicities from various businesses, industries, nonprofits and local governments from all parts of the state.

Up-and-comers

It also offers the Local Government Leadership Program, created in 2003 for county and municipal elected officials, and Connect New Mexico — The Next Generation of Leadership, added in 2007 to provide leadership training to the state’s young professionals in the 25-40 age group.

Chaves County Commissioner Greg Nibert, a member of the 2011 core class, is also a graduate of the local government offering.

“It’s really a great program and really is helpful to understand the bigger dynamics that go on in the whole state,” he said. “As a local business leader, or local political person, you sometimes get myopic and focus on your community and don’t realize how it fits into the bigger picture.”

Flagship program

The core program, Komko said, is “in a sense, is sort of our flagship program. It’s for senior leaders from throughout the state.”

Senior, that is, in the sense of those who have worked their way into decision-making positions in their fields. The average age of this year’s class is 48.2 years old, Komko said.

Among the first 32 graduates — from Class of 1997 — were former Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, then-Farmington Mayor Tom Taylor, now a state representative, and Dr. Jane Henney, then-vice president of the Health Sciences Center, she said. It has since graduated more than 600 people from 40 communities.

Each program session is devoted to one of five basic topics, with a different host city for each: After kicking off the 2010-2011 program with a retreat in September in Santa Fe, it was health and human services in Silver City in November and economic development in Las Cruces in January. Coming up are energy, environment and natural resources in Farmington in May, and crime and justice in Taos in June.

Problems, solutions

Each session is spread over three days, with a day-and-a-half of instructional sessions where participants hear expert speakers and get the opportunity to ask questions, analyze and develop solutions to critical problems facing New Mexico.

“In economic development, it might be integration, it might be a border trade issue, it might be agriculture, but within that day and a half, we try and keep those sections pretty current,” Komko said.

Ken Freeman, general manager of SOC Los Alamos, which provides physical security services for Los Alamos National Laboratory, said the Leadership New Mexico experience has been invaluable.

“If I have an issue I need help with, there’s a number of people I can call who are steeped in the issue,” he said.