Friday, July 25, 2008

CNM To Showcase Offerings at the Mall

By Jessica Dyer
Journal Staff Writer
      Shopping for a new career could be as easy as shopping for a new pair of shoes this weekend.
    Central New Mexico Community College will be setting up a temporary campus at Cottonwood Mall from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday to highlight its classes and programs, and to provide information to prospective students.
    "This will be the biggest event we've done on this large scale that will involve the general public, and it will be really fun," said CNM Communications Manager Jennifer McDonald.
    She added that the mall provides an ideal venue to showcase CNM, given that it should be crawling with families searching for new jackets and backpacks for the upcoming school year.
    "People will be out there, school shopping for their kids who are getting into that back-to-school mode," McDonald said. "We're hoping that people will stop by and think, 'Oh, I can go back to school, too.'"
    Cottonwood's location also is a bonus, given that CNM operates a Westside campus and is opening a Rio Rancho campus in 2010.
    McDonald said CNM students, faculty and other campus representatives will be at the event to answer questions about CNM and address issues such as financial aid.
    There also will be live demonstrations of classroom activities.
    Representatives from the Applied Technologies school will be on hand with their aviation program materials, including a large prop from one of the planes, McDonald said. Members of the art department will have an interactive exhibit.
    "They're great," McDonald said. "They bring out easels and a lot of art mediums, chalk, pencils and charcoal. They set up easels and ask people to come up and draw freehand."
    McDonald said few people realize the variety of options CNM provides. Students can leave the school with an Associate's Degree, a certificate or a new skill set. They can take classes that range in duration from one week to several months. While the fall term officially starts on Sept. 2, there are new classes beginning all the way through the fall.
    "People might think, 'Oh, I'm too busy. I've got to get my own kids in school. I can't start now,'" McDonald said. "Well you can start a class in October. There's weekend classes and evening classes and traditional day classes."
    Including the main location east of Downtown, CNM currently operates five campuses throughout the city, including the Westside campus at 10549 Universe NW and a South Valley location at 5816 Isleta SW.
    CNM offers six general areas of study: Adult & General Education; Applied Technologies; Business & Information Technology; Communication, Humanities & Social Sciences; Health, Wellness & Public Safety; and Math, Science & Engineering.
   

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