First step to the future

Portales High School students took advantage of an opportunity to take their first steps with college preparation Sunday afternoon.

A two-hour sign-up session at the high school allowed students to fill out financial aid applications with the assistance of financial aid officers from Eastern New Mexico University.

Most of the students listed ENMU as their college of interest.

Portales High School Counselor Thomas Tafoya said a student’s background can impact their financial aid opportunity.

link Staff photo: Alisa Boswell

Portales High student Maria Viera applies for financial aid online with assistance of financial aid officers Chandra Jefferson, right, and Samantha Rector, behind, as her daughter, Aylin, 1, plays on her lap.

Maria Viera came with her year-old daughter Aylin, who sat on her lap and played as Viera filled out her application.

Viera said she also has an almost 3-year-old son, so she is used to juggling motherhood and school; the idea of going to college while being a mother doesn’t phase her much.

“I’m sure it will be hard, but I can manage,” she said.

“We are so proud of her,” Tafoya said. “She’s stuck with it and will graduate and go to college.”

Annamaria Short, a professional for the Talent Search Program at ENMU, said she can relate to going through high school and college with a child, because she had her son at 16.

“There are a lot of resources out there to help you if you are open to them,” Short said. “I let them (students) know, don’t give up (on school). Having high school staff and college staff and family be supportive makes a huge difference.”

Short, who has a bachelor’s degree in sociology, is working toward her master’s in communications.

“Sometimes I think I might be crazy for going back for my master’s, but when you’re a mom, that changes your perspective,” Short said.

No matter what your background, there are always resources to help with college, Tafoya and ENMU officials said Sunday.

Viera said she wants to pursue a degree in nursing at Clovis Community College.

James Fulcher said he wants to major in business and minor in visual and audio production, so he can open his own sound studio somewhere in California.

Iris Garcia and Dylan Knox both said they were undecided as to what they will major in, but both teens are interested in the medical field.

Garcia said she is interested in radiology, social work and physical therapy while

Knox has thought a lot about physical therapy.

Tafoya said high school students have to fill out a financial aid application whether they qualify for a grant or not, because the applications are also the means of students finding out what scholarships and loans they can qualify for.

He said everyone who filled out an application Sunday will receive email updates on the status of their applications and what they qualify for.

He said all students 25 years of age and younger have to provide their parents’ tax information on the application unless they are orphaned or married, but financial aid offices will make exceptions with other situations, handling them on a case-by-case basis.

Betty Dever, ENMU financial aid specialist, said the process is much more simple and straight forward than it used to be.

She said everything is online now and there is now an IRS data retrieval tool that can automatically transmit your tax information into the application.

“I think people are sometimes intimidated by it (filling out the application), because they compare it to doing their taxes,” Short said.