Meet Our Fall 2021 EYNoCA Mentors
Faces First / Bios Below
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Marcia Brenden
Rosalia Ciddio
Steve Cox
Joseph Dunham
Sarah Gissinger
Shayna Gomez
Evelyn Juarez
David Lindblom
Alicia Naranjo
Reina Padilla
Jenny Parks
Doris Rivera
Natalia Tealer
Kersti Tyson
Mario Valerio
Marcia Brenden. For the last 20 years I have worked in Espanola with colleagues at the Center for the Education and Study of Diverse Populations (CESDP) of New Mexico Highlands University. In 2017, I served as a mentor in the first round of the Expand Your Network of Caring Adults Program at EVHS and McCurdy. My work at CESDP also included coordinating the Kellogg-funded ENLACE Project (Engaging Latino Communities for Education) in area public school districts, working as the Regional Director for implementation of the A.V.I.D (Advancement Via Individual Determination) college prep program, and planning and facilitating the annual Student Researchers Institute. In addition, I worked with colleagues to redesign and implement the four-year ECELL (Equal Chance for Equal Learning through Literacy) Project in numerous middle schools with majority Native American student populations and provided professional development workshops and on-going services to area school districts with ELL and bilingual student populations. I also taught ELL and bilingual graduate courses for teachers seeking their TESOL and bilingual certification. I’m currently retired from NMHU and working on my small farm in Dixon, NM.
Rosalia Ciddio. I’m a northern New Mexico native and graduate of the Española public school system. I’ve worked in the medical field for many years left and then started my own business. I am currently working on my family farm transitioning our farming to regenerative practices and working at our local library focusing on social justice and STEM/STEAM programming for youth.
Steve Cox. A high school job as a draftsman led to BS and MS degrees in Engineering en route to discovering my deeper interest in Mathematics. Following a PhD I spent 28 years as a professor of Computational & Applied Mathematics at Rice University in Houston. While there I served for 10 years as College Magister of a residential college of 300 undergraduates. I also served as founding director of the Rice Center for Teaching Excellence and as adjunct professor of Neuroscience at the neighboring Baylor College of Medicine. I moved to Northern New Mexico College in 2015 and now teach Engineering and nudge my students into sharing their knowledge and path with our local K12 students and teachers.
Joseph Dunham. I'm 25 years old and a recent graduate from Northern New Mexico College. I believe that the best way to help the youth is by simply listening to them and providing advice. Help them to not make the same mistakes we've made in the past.
Sarah Gissinger-Larriva is a Chicana feminist and passionate, vision-driven advocate for educational equity. As a recent college graduate with a heavy student loan burden, her work is centered around creating affordable college access for first-generation students and students of color. In her current role as Scholarship Program Coordinator at the LANL Foundation, she is focused on building and maintaining the LANL Scholars alumni network and helping to guide campus-based programs at universities across New Mexico. Sarah is an alumna of the 2020 New Mexico Women of Color Leadership Initiative. She was born and raised in Southern California and moved to Northern New Mexico to work at the LANL Foundation in late 2018. Previously, she founded a grassroots tutoring program in her hometown, taught English in Costa Rica, and interned at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, DC.
Sarah received a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Claremont McKenna College, where she researched best practices for empowering youth to become change agents in their communities. She currently resides in Santa Fe with her partner and spends her free time exploring the outdoors, practicing Reiki, and learning about Tarot and astrology.
Shayna Gomez. I am a senior at Espanola Valley High School! Throughout my time at EVHS I have attended both Northern New Mexico College and University of New Mexico Los Alamos through dual enrollment. I have held an internship at Los Alamos National Laboratory, participated in Robotics, MESA, Student Council, National Honor Society and Esports. My plan after high school is to pursue a degree in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering. However before I graduate I wish to leave a meaningful impact on my community, and encourage students at EVHS to begin creating the future they desire. Small steps in the right direction can turn out to be the biggest steps of your life!
Evelyn Juarez, originally from Chihuahua, Mexico, graduated from Northern New Mexico College with a Bachelor of Science in Biology May of 2021. She attended and graduated from Espanola Valley High School in 2016 as Co-Valedictorian. She is a first-generation student, Mexican immigrant, and DACA student who currently serves on Northern New Mexico College's Board as Student Regent. She is also a 2020-2021 Alumni of Georgetown University School of Medicine's Academy for Research, Clinical, and Health Equity Fellowship, aimed to support and prepare underrepresented undergraduate students for successful matriculation into medical school. Evelyn has been employed by the LANL Foundation for the past 5 years. Her relationship with the Foundation began in 2016 when she received a Silver Scholarship from the Los Alamos Employees’ Scholarship Fund. Soon afterward she joined the staff as an intern, helping out with the day-to-day tasks of the office at the front desk with a specific focus on the scholarship program. Her role has evolved to the Early Childhood Education Coordinator, now supporting the Early Childhood Program with the Grandparents/Kin Raising Children Advisory Council as well as the education and training needs of our collaboratives, local early childhood programs, and community members.
Outside of work, Evelyn leads the singers and plays guitar for the Latinx Sunday mass at Holy Cross Catholic Church and provides mentorship to several youth pursuing a college education.
David Lindblom is a tenure track professor in the film department at Northern New Mexico College. He grew up in Los Alamos, graduated from LAHS and received a BA from Grinnell College. He is a professional film editor, cameraman and documentarian. He has worked with directors Wayne Wang, on "Dim Sum,” and Martin Scorsese, on "A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies," which he edited with Scorsese's legendary motion picture editor Thelma Schoonmaker.
Since returning to New Mexico to support his family he produced, filmed and edited "Land Water People Time," which won Best Documentary in the New Mexico Filmmakers Showcase. He has worked in key creative positions on "No Star for Romaine," “Four Stories about Water," "Torcida," "Cut From Capulin" (about New Mexico-raised, Academy Award winner Elmo Williams who passed at age 102), "Without A Tribe: Survival of New Mexico's Ransomed Captives," and a behind-the-scenes documentary about the feature film "Blaze You Out," filmed in the Española Valley.
David is cinematographer and editor on a series of films about domestic abuse and has won several CASE awards for films he and his students made to promote Northern New Mexico College. He has taught at the College of Santa Fe and New York University, and received his MFA in screenwriting from the Institute of American Indian Arts in May 2016.
Alicia Naranjo. I am a tribal member of San Ildefonso Pueblo. I am the new Recruiter Specialist at Northern NM College. I am also a graduate of Northern NM College. I have a Bachelor of Integrated Studies emphasis on Pueblo Indian Studies and Associate of Arts in Elementary Education. I am currently a Master Degree student for Native American Studies at University of New Mexico.
Reina Padilla. I am a biology student at NNMC pursuing a bachelors degree. I am very passionate about animals. I want to use this passion to attend Colorado State University to take part in their Veterinary program and eventually come back to the beautiful valley as a veterinarian.
Jenny Parks became the President and CEO of the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation (LANL Foundation) in January 2015. As President and CEO, Jenny is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the LANL Foundation’s work, managing a $4 million operating and program budget and an approximately $84 million endowment that invests in early childhood and public school education programs, grants and advocacy, and provides a large college scholarship pool for students in Northern New Mexico. Prior to leading the LANL Foundation, Jenny served for five years as President and CEO of the New Mexico Community Foundation (NMCF), supporting underserved communities, strengthening nonprofits and growing philanthropy throughout the state, with a special emphasis on rural and tribal communities. In 2012, under Jenny’s leadership, NMCF launched NewMexicoWomen.Org, a fund and initiative with a purpose to provide leadership, education and investment in organizations helping to advance opportunities for women and girls in New Mexico.
Prior to joining NMCF, Jenny served as a Project Manager for the Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national land conservation non –profit. Starting in 1999, she worked in Utah, Arizona, Texas, Colorado and New Mexico leading and completing over 30 community driven conservation projects before becoming New Mexico State Director in July 2005.
As State Director, Ms. Parks was responsible for all aspects of TPL-New Mexico’s work, including leading TPL’s effort for the completion of the design and construction of the Railyard Park and Plaza in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico. Opening in September of 2008, the 12.5 acres of public parklands in central Santa Fe, a $14 million project, is now a hub for community activity, art and farmers markets, museums and the Santa Fe Depot.
Ms. Parks has won numerous awards for her conservation work in both Utah and New Mexico, and in 2012 won Leadership Santa Fe’s Outstanding Alumni award.
Prior to joining TPL, Ms. Parks worked for six years as a real estate attorney and for three years as a commercial real estate developer in Austin, Texas. She is a graduate of the University of Texas and the University of Texas -School of Law and lives in Santa Fe with her husband and son.
Doris Rivera works at the LANL Foundation where her primary role is to support and train teachers as part of the professional development component of the K-12 program. This entails program development and oversight of SEL projects, Supporting and Retaining Educators, and a National Board Certified Teachers project. She brings experiential teaching and excitement of learning to children and teachers in Northern New Mexico.
Doris worked as an elementary teacher and became a school science teacher leader, then became a science teacher trainer. She was able to travel around the USA, learn more about Inquiry Science and meet many other educators that were as excited and interested as she was.
Prior to her work with the LANL Foundation, Doris taught K–5th grade for 18 years in the Farmington, Santa Fe, and Chama Valley school districts. She received her Bachelor’s Degree from Adams State University in Alamosa, CO, and her Master’s Degree in Education from the College of Santa Fe. Doris is from the small town of Canjilon, NM, where she lives on a ranch with her husband.
Natalia Jade La’ Mae Tealer. I was born in Corpus Christi Texas, and now reside in New Mexico. I am the only girl and the youngest in the family. I am a single parent of four with two beautiful girls at ages fifteen and twelve, and two handsome rambunctious boys at ages seven, and four.
I completed my High School Equivalency in the Adult Education Program at Northern New Mexico College and now I am in my fourth semester. I am working on my bachelor’s degree in Information Engineering Tech. With this accomplishment I hope to challenge myself to be able to do new things for the future.
As a result of being an NNMC student, I have been given the opportunity to join the mentorship program in hopes to help other students like myself, to know your dreams can be accomplished with dedication and perseverance.
Kersti Tyson. Kersti’s early career as a math teacher in Santa Fe and Taos sparked her interest in how children learn. That prompted her to pursue a master’s in intercultural communication through the University of New Mexico’s Communication & Journalism department, convinced that culture plays an important role in how we learn. After completing her master’s, Kersti spent four years working for the New Mexico Public Education Department (PED) on Teacher Quality Policies, joining the first PED unit to focus on building quality teachers in New Mexico. The position provided useful experience for understanding how leadership and policy decisions impact teachers, students and communities, but her heart was really devoted to improving children’s opportunities to learn in NM, so she entered the Learning Sciences Program at the University of Washington in Seattle, Wash., to earn her PhD. As a learning scientist, Kersti learns about learning in order to support the complex work teachers accomplish with children every day. In particular, she is interested in understanding more about how teachers’ listening facilitates students’ learning.
In 2010, Kersti returned to New Mexico, joining the faculty of the University of New Mexico’s College of Education, where she taught elementary mathematics methods and graduate courses in education for educators and researchers. She earned tenure and the rank of Associate Professor in 2018. Kersti is passionate about transforming students’ opportunities to learn mathematics – she believes every human is capable of mathematics, but that we need to have joyful and meaning-full opportunities to make sense of mathematics.
Kersti joined the LANL Foundation in 2019 as Director of Evaluation & Learning. Kersti’s primary focus is utilizing research and evaluation to support the Foundation’s mission, vision, values and strategies across the spectrum of public education. Kersti will help both internal and external stakeholders to develop evaluation methods that demonstrate program impact, reflect on results and drive ongoing program improvement. Her research will assess community needs in order to develop new programs and refine existing ones.
Kersti recently moved back to Taos where she lives with her son, partner, dogs and all sorts of other animals on their small farm. As a native New Mexican whose family goes back several generations, Kersti values the cultural diversity of the state and is looking forward to helping Northern New Mexico communities build on the strengths they already possess and providing opportunities for children to express their natural brilliance.
Mario Valerio. I graduated in 2018 with a bachelor's degree in Information Engineering Technology (IET) from Northern New Mexico College. After I obtained my IET degree I finished the Alternative Licensure program in Education at NNMC. I am a single full time father of two sons who are in 5th and 6th grade. I was a teacher for adult education at the Northern New Mexico College for six years. I also taught in the public education system for two years. One year I taught grades K-8 in Santa Fe as a technology teacher and as a 5th grade teacher at Tony E. Quintana. I am currently learning to program video games and create animations in Unity and have applied to teach programming games at a after school program online.
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