SantaFe.com

Daniel Pedro's family was a little taken aback when he announced his intent to study ancestral human remains.

On the 19-year-old's native Zuni Pueblo, it is taboo for tribal members to handle remains.

But as a budding anthropologist, Pedro said he's been troubled by one method that's used to identify where American Indian remains came from, which involves crushing bone to extract DNA.

There must be a better way, Pedro thought. For three years, Pedro has been working on a computer program that might one day determine the ethncity of skeletal remains simply by analyzing their facial structure.

Sunday, May 4, 2008
by Raam Wong • Journal Santa Fe

After the final hole of Tuesday’s District 2-5A golf tournament at the Marty Sanchez Links de Santa Fe, Caryn Fiorina greeted her daughter Chanet with a hug.

Chanet had just shot a 76 to run away with the district title, topping the field by seven strokes. And at least for that moment, mother and daughter could simply enjoy Chanet’s tourney win.

But the pair’s celebration was tempered by the fact that, despite Chanet earning the school’s first league crown in recent memory, her golf future — at least for this season — remains uncertain after Chanet was deemed academically ineligible March...

Wednesday, May 7, 2008
by Vince Kong • Journal Santa Fe

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

It’s really difficult to remember how we communicated, what we considered “entertaining,” and how we received information prior to the Internet. The Internet has become one of the most-used means of technology in history—after electricity, the telephone, cars, modern appliances, and computers, of course. As different generations deal with its effects and affects, youth today appear to be savvier than ever. I recently conducted an anonymous survey of twenty high school students from Monte Del Sol Charter School to gain insight on how safe they feel using the Internet, how much time they...

Thursday, May 1, 2008
by Alexis Shannez Dudelczyk • SantaFe.com

Santa Fe's homeless and unemployed young people have a new group of adults on their side as the Interfaith Leadership Alliance launches Cool Closet on May 6. Cool Closet is a place to get appropriate clothing plus mentoring on applying for and hanging onto an entry-level job, its coordinator told the Journal.

"We expect this to be a place where people aged 16 to 25 can get some clothing for job interviews and for work, and some good mentoring to help them get a toehold in the local business world," Sue Breslauer said.

The project exists solely on donations of cash and clothing in a surplus...

Saturday, April 26, 2008
by Kate McGraw • 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

If you've ever thought nothing could hold an 8-year-old's attention like his or her big brother's Wii game, you haven't seen 35 second-graders crowded into a classroom with two zoo ladies and a hedgehog.

The rain forest birds were an obvious hit for the Ramirez Thomas Elementary students. The snake, too, of course. But a hedgehog?

As zoo lady Courtney Bowers— a financial planner in her other life— held tiny Prickle in a towel and walked among the rows of chairs, the kids said "ohhhh" in lowered voices and craned their necks to see her.

As part of the "Zoo to You" program of the Rio Grande...

Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 2:52 PM
by Polly Summar • Journal Santa Fe

By the end of this year, Santa Fe's Judd Apatow wannabes will be making their own short films at Warehouse 21. Thanks to a gift of $5,000 in software provided by National Geographic's All Roads Film Project and the Santa Fe Film Festival, budding young filmmakers will find a creative incubator in the teen center's new space at 1614 Paseo de Peralta. The software will be used in the new 17,000-square-foot building's 16-computer media lab. The new $3.4 million structure is slated to open by the end of June.

"The Santa Fe Film Festival is definitely a future collaborator on future projects,"...

Friday, April 18, 2008 at 4:00 PM
by Kathaleen Roberts • Journal Santa Fe

Retired biologist Donna Howell presented a program Thursday afternoon at the Santa Fe Children’s Museum that gave local children the chance to get up close and personal with some of nature’s most elusive creatures.

Howell’s Bats! program included a slide presentation on the different types of bats, as well as information on bat behavior and bat habitat. Samples of bat skeletons and bat structures were available for observation, and children were also able to pet a live bat and listen to its heartbeat through a stethoscope.

The presentation was part of the education programs that are...

Friday, April 4, 2008
from Journal Santa Fe