SantaFe.com

It's that time of year again. You know, school is ending. You've already put in your applications for next year or hoping it's not too late to switch public schools. The financial aid application deadline is past, or is fast approaching. Whatever it takes to give our children the education model that best fits the needs of our children, we do it.

For many of us in Santa Fe, that education model is through home learning, or homeschooling by its more popular name. Homeschooling is being seen more as a mainstream option, rather than an alternative model. It has not become just another way to...

Monday, May 12, 2008 at 2:20 PM
by Tamieka Ruiz • SantaFe.com

Location plays a big role in Los Mayas Restaurante’s success. For 10 years, this downtown restaurant has served up guacamole, sangria, food and live music to a steady clientele of visitors and some locals. Los Mayas is about a block from the Hilton and Eldorado Hotel — an easy walk.

The Wednesday night of our visit, the dining room was about 80 percent filled. One large group, college students in town for a photo workshop, had great fun taking pictures of one another, the guitar duo on stage, the beautifully plated food and the romantic ambiance. On Thursday, the patio will be uncovered,...

Friday, May 9, 2008
by Anne Hillerman • Journal Santa Fe

You know the drill: Go out with your single friends, have one too many margaritas, end up giving the person you’ve been dirty dancing with all night your phone number, wake up the next morning with a headache and a vague recollection of a slobbery kiss, and dodge the phone for the next two weeks. But isn’t there a better way to meet the love of your life?

Yes, yes, yes! I took an unofficial poll of friends and acquaintances and found that most of them met their partners Not at a Bar. After all, if you’re seeking someone who enjoys early morning hikes, you want to meet them somewhere other...

Monday, May 5, 2008
by Hillary Welles • SantaFe.com

This is a wonderful time of year! For one thing, graduation is in the air. There’s nothing as optimistic as the sight of another group of young people collecting their high school diplomas and heading toward the next stage of life, filled with pride, with a sense of accomplishment, and a feeling of self-worth and self-confidence.

But, of course, for that to happen, kids have to graduate.

And for that to happen, they have to stay in school.

Santa Fe kids, unfortunately, don’t. They don’t stay in school and therefore they don’t graduate. The numbers are a little hazy, but between our two...

Monday, May 5, 2008
by Alan M. Webber • SantaFe.com

Today, more than ever before, there is significant emphasis put on education. College is the new high school, and graduate school is the new college. The state of our economy only further enhances competition for people (at any level) and makes entering the work field that much harder for recent graduates (regardless of how much education they have received). Surprisingly, our nation continues to see incredibly high drop-out rates amongst high school students. In order to receive honest answers directly from high school students, I conducted an anonymous survey of twenty students from Monte...

Monday, May 5, 2008
by Alexis Shannez Dudelczyk • SantaFe.com

Just imagine – you’ve made it through the work week, maybe gotten ahead on that pile of laundry and pruned your backyard shrubs. So, now you get to reward yourself with a Saturday morning off, right? Maybe a mountain hike, maybe brunch with friends? What if instead you spent those precious Saturday morning hours in the hot sun pounding nails? For someone else? For free? Plenty of Santa Feans do just that and call it volunteering. There are over 600 nonprofits registered with the New Mexico Attorney General and that’s just in Santa Fe. Most of those have few or no paid staff members and rely...

Thursday, May 1, 2008
by AnnMarie McLaughlin • SantaFe.com

Ellen Levy walked around the displays of some 50 science projects at Santa Fe High School on Thursday afternoon like a proud mother hen.

"Each individual school here has had science fairs for years," said Levy, mathematics and science coordinator for Santa Fe Public Schools. "But having a districtwide exposition and challenge for the winners from each elementary school is a first for us."

Levy was enjoying a few minutes of calm— soaking in the hypotheses and conclusions— before the Carlos Gilbert Elementary contingent arrived for individual consultations with the volunteer judges.

Friday, April 25, 2008
by Polly Summar • Journal Santa Fe

A driver's license. To most high school students, it's the ticket to freedom.

Starting next year, that ticket will become harder to get.

New Mexico students will have to achieve a "near-proficient" score or higher on the state's math and reading tests in eighth grade and maintain a 90 percent attendance rate in ninth grade to be eligible for a license.

Students who fall short of either will have to wait six months for a license; those who miss both will have a one-year delay.

Gov. Bill Richardson announced the education initiative to a roomful of freshmen at Sandia High School on Thursday...

Friday, April 25, 2008
by Zsombor Peter • Journal Santa Fe

The Lensic Performing Arts Center has joined with theater artist Nina Wise and activist Randy Hayes to present Election Year: A Festival of Optimistic Voices. In this series of inspiring evenings, some of the world’s leading visionaries gather to discuss insightful new perspectives and solutions to the pressing questions of our times. Following each discussion, Nina Wise will weave the themes of the evening into one of her signature performances, transforming the conceptual issues from the mind to the heart.

In this election year political speeches overflow with the call for change....

courtesy of The Lensic Performing Arts Center

A bunch of us were sitting around shortly after the New Mexico caucus, talking about the state of Presidential politics.

Making sense of high-stakes national politics was relatively easy.

McCain: war hero, authentic guy, tells you what he thinks.

Obama: inspiring young leader, great speaker, full of hope, gives people reasons to aspire to more.

Clinton: first serious woman candidate for President, determined competitor, long years of political experience, loads of political i-owe-you’s from party regulars.

We went through the strengths and weaknesses of each of the candidates who’d dropped...

Tuesday, April 1, 2008
by Alan M. Webber • SantaFe.com