Student's of the Month, 2011-12
Tiffany Thompson, July 2011
It is with great pleasure that we introduce our first Student of the Month for the Rotary e-Club of the Southwest, Tiffany Thompson.
Tiffany Thompson was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico in1993. Parents Gregory and Patricia Thompson have four daughters, Tiffany being the third.
She has kept active through her school years participating inmultiple sports including soccer, softball, gymnastics, cheerleading, ice skating, water skiing and snowboarding.
Her academic career has been impressive, staring inElementary and Middle School, where she participated in Gifted Special Education. She won academic awards: Principal Honor Roll,National Honor Society and Character Counts Awards
She is currently attending Manzano High School, participating in the guitar program, taking Advanced Placement classes, andworking as the football manager for the upcoming season. She carries a 3.9 Grade point average.
One of her biggest accomplishments so far is her participation in the Career Enrichment Center Nursing Program. Only 50 students throughout the Albuquerque Public School are admitted to the program.Planning for the Career Enrichment Center (CEC) Nursing Program begins in the sophomore year where an application formmust be completed and submitted. More than 200 hundred students apply. Math, English, and Science teachers fill out a reference form and return it in a sealed envelope to the CEC Nursing Program. The student attends program orientation and pre-entrance testing. Math, Vocabulary, Reading and Science tests are given both on the computer and a written version.
Parents must attend an information session at the CareeEnrichment Center to understand the program, requirements and the amount of time students will be involved in the program. Applicants write a letter of intent for entrance into the program. A personal interview is conducted with the candidate and nursing faculty, and acceptance letters are sent later in the mail. The student must then get a physical exam, T.B. test, and then begins that summer studying basic nursing terms for preparation for fall of junior year.
Tiffany began her junior year at the Career Enrichment Center learning anatomy, practical nursing skills, pharmacology, and nutrition, while simultaneously attending Manzano High School for Advanced Placement classes in U.S History,English, Spanish II, and Guitar.
During the second semester of her junior year, she started rotations in hospital, clinic and nursing homes.She has already experienced working on medical surgical floors, labor and delivery,postpartum, rehabilitation, skilled nursing facilities as well as multiple clinics forgastrointestinal, pulmonary, cardiac, and an outpatient treatment center. The students are assigned a patient and are responsible for allof their care, including baths, medications, therapeutic conversation, etc. while being observed by their instructor.
The program continues through the summer between Junior
and Senior year where Tiffany and her classmates work 24 hours a week in a clinical setting and spend time in the classroom for lecture and pharmacology exams.
Tiffany is going into her senior year in August and will graduate in May. As a high school graduate she will have the qualifications totake the State Boards to become a Licensed Practical Nurse.By the age of 18, Tiffany will be a Licensed Practical Nurse. She plans to continue on in her education to become an Registered Nurse with a Bachelor Degree . After college she is considering a Military Career.
Tiffany considers nursing the most gratifying and rewarding thing she has ever done, but it is the biggest challenge she has faced.
Every day she goes to the hospital, she has the ability to touch someone’s life, and says that they always touch hers.
Tiffany is very artistic and has won Student Awards for her Art. Her art work was Chosen for the New Mexico Arts and Crafts Poster.
She also has participated in multiple volunteer activities: Mascot Quacky at the Albuquerque Rotary Club Duck Pluck, 5 years. Volunteer at the Bio Park Seed Festival, 4 years. Youth volunteer at Talking Talons. New Mexico Arts and Crafts Fair volunteer and Participant 7 years. Key Club, Campus clean up
Congratulations Tiffany. We wish you well in your future endeavors.
Deogratius Godfrey, Student of the Month, August 2011
Deogratius (DEO) just finished his first year of study in economics at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Deo was recently elected General Secretary of Dar es Salaam University's economics association (DUEA), a nongovernmental organization bringing together university students to build capacities required for a competitive labor markets.
Deo's path to Tanzania's premier university was not an easy one. Deo's father was killed in a mine cave-in and his body was never recovered. The death left Deo's mother and five children destitute. Their family's property and money were stolen from them and they forced to move from one temporary shelter to the next for years.
Deo's mother worked hard to make sure each of her children graduated from elementary school. After his mother'shealth declined, three of the five children left school to support the family, struggling to keep Deo and his sister in school. When Deo's siblings could no longer support him, Deo was taken in by a relative in another part of the Kilimanjaro Region. Fortunately, Deo scored very well on his university entrance exams last year and he was thrilled to secure a spot in Tanzania's
elite university. Once Deo finishes his degree, he plans to fund his sister's college education and help his family members who sacrificed so much help him.
Deo's dream is to work in business management and he will also use his management skills to make a difference in the lives of the poor. Rural Tanzanian children look up to Deo as a role model. He is proof positive that even the poorest village students can rise to the mightiest university in the country through the power of hope, hard work, and resilience in the face of overwhelming odds. Deo is our kind of future Rotarian, doing his best to change the way the world works for the least fortunate in society.
Photo of Deo mentoring village children in Msaranga, Tanzania last summer.
Braxtin Love, Student of the Month, September 2011
We chose Braxtin Love, a junior from Desert Ridge High School,Mesa, Arizona, because she had a very positive, go-getter attitude at RYLA that she also expresses in her Interact club. She is always the first to sign up for projects and took the initiative to learn about Rotary on her own. She also does all this on top of being a busy Advanced Placement student.
Becoming apart of Interact has been a life changing experience. I absolutely love what Interact represents and it has made me realize the change that can be made. When I first heard about the club at my school I knew I had to join because the name "Interact" descibes my personality perfectly. Interacting with my peers,creating fundraisers,and doing community service was everything the club offered and I couldn't pass up.Once I started volunteering I instantly fell in love with it. It was an overwhelming feeling of warmth and excitement that filled my heart when I connected with people who needed my help. For instance, our club decided to adopt families for Christmas last year. It was shocking to see that most of the families wanted gifts like shampoo, conditioner, andsoap. That day really made me appreciate how lucky I am. Our club received the opportunity to go to a Women's Shelter as well. The Women's Shelter was one of the best experiences of my life so far. I got the chance to Interact with powerful women who have been through a great deal but still found the strength to smile through their obstacles. I admire those women and I am thankful to be apart of the Interact club.
Congratulations Braxtin
Roberto J. Guajardo, Student of the Month, October 2011,
Congratulations to Roberto J. Guajardo, October Student of the Month.
Roberto attended Lone Star College in Kingwood Texas, and was nominated by his Professor Joe Kagle.
Roberto is motivated to learn, create excellent work in an academic situation, and is one of the best students that I ( Professor Kagle) have had in my 50 years of college teaching. He enters and starts discussion in the class so that others enter into the body of knowledge generated. He is creative and talented (I have asked for and gotten four of Roberto’s essays and research papers to place on reserve in the library. He is reliable, helps other students having difficulties and leads others by taking the chance to be first to attempt something.
Roberto not only has a keen, searching mind but the motivation to excel at anything that he puts his will and spirit to. To say that he is ambitious, wishing to get a doctorate eventually (something far beyond what his parents did since they never finished college), is a vast understatement. He understands that ‘to know is to grow’ and ‘to do is to know’. As a minority, he had much to overcome and he has done that brilliantly.
Simply, ‘he wishes to go further’ and further than even he has imagined to date. Wishing him the success in the Future.
Thank you for the nomination and award, this is a humbling experience. When I received word from my parents as well as from Professor Kagle that I was selected as student of the Month for the Rotary Club, I flashback to all the hard work and dedication I put into my studies. With this award I have been given an opportunity to establish myself with a starting foundation for future goals. I am attending Sam Houston State University persuing a Bachelors degree of Arts in Mass Communication. The concentration of this degree is Print Journalism with a minor in Creative Writing. After getting my poem published with the Lonestar Communtiy College, I realized that my passion and talents are within Literature Arts. Professor Joseph Kagle has also broaden my horizones with his class of "Art Appreciation" within the theatre view of life.
