ARTESIA HIGH SCHOOL

AHS Student Council hosts Fall Conference

A large group of male and female teens pose for a photo behind a sign reading "Return of the Leaders: 2024 NMASC Southeast District Fall Conference".
The AHS Student Council hosted this year's New Mexico Association of Student Councils' Southeast District Fall Conference Oct. 23, where students from around the district were able to network, share ideas, and build skills that will improve their councils. This year's keynote speaker was Mike Hall, host of "The Moments That Made Us" podcast, who challenged students to realize their full potential.

Click here for more photos!

Snacks and Apps

A group of female teens sits around a circular table looking at college applications both on paper and on laptops. Snacks are also seen on the table.
AHS seniors were able to enjoy snacks while completing college applications with Senior Counselor Debbie Kinnibrugh. More than 40 applications were completed.

Voter Registration Drive

Male and female teens sit at tables while a woman at the front of the room points something out on a piece of paper.
On Oct. 22, students turning 18 by Nov. 5 were able to register to vote in the 2024 General Election with help from a Voter Registration Drive organized by social studies teachers from AHS and Park Junior High.

Bulldogs Care Week raises funds for AGH

High school students in pink t-shirts hold up a large check made payable to the Artesia General Hospital Foundation.
During Bulldogs Care Week Oct. 7-11, AHS students wore a different color each day to raise awareness of five different types of cancer: blue for prostate cancer, yellow for bone cancer, green for lymphoma, pink for breast cancer, and orange for leukemia. The classes also competed through a Coin War to raise funds for the Artesia General Hospital Foundation, with $1,282.14 raised.

CSWCD offers hands-on science learning

Male and female high school students move items around in a large tray of sand.
Carlsbad Soil and Water Conservation District Manager Sandi Wilkie paid a visit to AHS early in the month to teach earth-science students about erosion with hands-on help from the Rolling Rivers model.

Tate Branch Senior Students of the Month

Two female teens hold certificates while smiling for the camera.

Emilie Fuksa and Hattie Harrison

The Tate Branch Auto Group has initiated a new program to honor Artesia High School seniors who display the following qualities:

• Act with integrity and honesty
• Look for ways to give back
• Use leadership skills for positivity and change
• Be willing to help
• Work to be a team player
• Strive to do the right thing every time

The first two winners of the Tate Branch Senior Student of the Month award for August and September, respectively, were Hattie Harrison and Emilie Fuksa. Congratulations!

College and Career Day

A large group of high school students mills around to tables set up in a gymnasium. High school students inside an ambulance listen as an EMT speaks to them about a dummy on a gurney.

On Wednesday, Oct. 2, AHS students were able to take some time to look to the future with the school's annual College and Career Day.

More than 30 colleges and trade schools were on hand to provide Bulldog seniors and juniors with information on admissions and scholarships, and more than 40 companies and organizations were represented at the Career Fair to offer all students a glimpse down a variety of career paths.

Click here for a photo album from the event!

PARK JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

Health and Wellness Day

A female and male teen look through stickers and images while creating a vision book. A group of teens do sit-ups on a gym floor as a male trainer walks by. A group of male teens sit in chairs and look toward a TV screen reading "Preventing Teen Relationship Violence" as a police officer speaks to them. A male teen dives against the side of an inflatable bounce house to catch a small blue ball.

Park students were able to learn about physical, mental and social health while playing games, winning prizes, and creating vision boards during the school's Health and Wellness Day Oct. 25.

Students give back to Dexter

Teens help load items into the back of a pickup truck filled with cases of water, mops and brooms.
Students, faculty and volunteers gathered following the devastating flooding in Chaves County to collect supplies for the community of Dexter, including donations of water, snacks, toilet paper and cleaning supplies.

APD hosts safe-driving clinic

A police officer speaks to a male and female teen driving a go-kart on a basketball court surface outside a school.
The Artesia Police Department and its School Resource Officers paid a visit to Park Oct. 4 to conduct a safe-driving clinic with the school's driver's education classes.

ZIA INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL

Media tech students pickling and grinning

Students in Kimberly Key's media technology class pickled... er, PICKED up some new skills in tech, coding and music recently, creating pickle pianos on which they were able to tap out such tunes as "Do-Re-Mi," "Happy Birthday" and Beethoven's "Ode to Joy."

Click here for a video!

The students also used AI prompts to generate promos for Red Ribbon Week!

An AI-generated image of a bowl of chicken nuggets with smaller bowls of sauces sitting around it reads: "Say no to drugs and say yes to chicken nuggs!"

Art students channel Andy Warhol

Pictures hang on a wall featuring student art generated around pictures of celebrities including Jim Henson and Jennifer Lopez.

In early October, Zia's art students began working on mixed-media pieces featuring famous artists of their choice.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Fourth-graders saddle up

(Photos Courtesy The Eddy County Fair)

Fourth-graders from the Artesia Public Schools elementaries got a crash course in rodeo Friday, Oct. 4, at the Eddy County Fairgrounds. Students listened as local participants in the weekend's New Mexico High School and Junior High School Rodeo Associations event explained their sport and were able to watch some exciting demonstrations.

You can find results from the rodeo on the NMHSRA's website.

CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Bullpups take flight

A group of students listens as male and female adults show them how to construct a hot-air balloon from paper. Male and female students smile for the camera as they work to construct a hot-air balloon from paper. A group of students press paper together to create a hot-air balloon as a woman looks on.
Central closed out the month of October with a Take Flight event in conjunction with the Balloons & Tunes Festival. Bullpup fifth-graders were able to learn how hot air balloons work before creating and launching their own.

Click here for a video!

Students meet math, reading goals

A large group of students poses for the camera while standing on and around playground equipment at a park.
Central students who met both their Math IXL and Accelerated Reading goals were treated to a trip to Jamaica Park. Click here for more photos!

STEM storms

Two male students add blue liquid from a dropper onto shaving cream in small plastic cups. Shaving cream in a small plastic cup is stained with blue liquid.
Amy Walker's fifth-grade class was able to learn about the water cycle by creating "Storms in a Cup" as part of a special STEM lab project.

Books and Bingo Family Night

A large group of students and adults sit at cafeteria tables playing a game of bingo. A male and female student and two adult females look at their bingo cards.
On Oct. 3, Central invited its students and their families to add a little extra fun to the school's book fair. Prior to heading to the fair to shop for new reads, a game of bingo was held in the cafeteria, with winners receiving books from the fair.

Click here for more photos from the event!

HERMOSA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Halloween hijinks

Three male students, two wearing super-hero costumes, smile at the camera as they hold forks over dishes of apple slices topped with candy and sauces. Three female students wearing Halloween costumes smile for the camera as they eat apple slices topped with chocolate, sprinkles, caramel and marshmallows from small dishes.
Hermosa celebrated Halloween Oct. 31 with a special Caramel Apple Bar.

Minute to Win It

A large group of students bats brightly colored balloons around a gymnasium.
Superkids celebrated meeting their Accelerated Reading goals by enjoying a variety of Minute to Win It games in the school gymnasium.

Spirit Run fundraiser

Male and female students run along a paved track on a school playground.
Hermosa Elementary held its annual Spirit Run fundraiser Oct. 11, with students from all grades running laps around the playground after collecting pledge donations. Click here for more photos!

Hermosa Principal Kaci Whitmire also gave Nickelodeon flashbacks, agreeing to be "slimed" by the fundraiser's highest earner!

ROSELAWN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Roadrunners cash in AR points

A line of female students waits in front of a tall cart filled with small toys and treats as a female principal addresses them.
Students who met their Accelerated Reading goals were able to cash in their points through the school's AR Point Club Rewards program. Principal Leslie Catano manned the rewards cart, congratulating students as they selected items ranging from bookmarks, pencils and "brag tags" to popcorn, pickles and beverages.

Roselawn celebrates Unity Day

A female and male student read to a second male student from a book while seated around a small desk. A male student shows another male students pictures in a book as a female student looks on. The three are seated around a small desk.
Unity Day was Oct. 16, and Roadrunner students spent the day learning how to create a culture of kindness, acceptance and inclusion. Older students also spent time with ACCESS students, learning about them and their needs and presenting them with gifts.

Roadrunners stand up to bullying

A large group of students sits and stands for a photo. All are wearing blue shirts.
Roselawn students wore blue on World Day of Bullying Prevention, Oct. 7, as part of their commitment to stomp out bullying. Students spent the month learning what bullying looks like, how to stand up to bullies, and how to keep bullying out of their school.

YESO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Up, up and away

Yeso students closed out the month of October with a learning experience in conjunction with the Balloons & Tunes Festival. Click here for a video of Thunderbirds exploring the inside of a retired hot-air balloon.

Creative characters

A line of pumpkins decorated as storybook characters such as Mrs Potts sits on a table.
Thunderbirds enhanced book reports over their favorite stories by turning pumpkins into some of their favorite characters from the books.

Superhero Readers

A large group of male and female students stands and kneels in front of the camera, wearing blue capes and holding small dolls. A group of male and female students smiles for the camera while seated around a picnic table with lunches in styrofoam boxes in front of them.
Yeso's Level Up Reading Challenge students made reading a priority in October and were rewarded with a Superhero Reader designation and a special lunch.

Heirloom Acres trip

A group of male and female students stand at the entrance of a corn maze and listen to a man as he holds up a corn cob. A group of students looks at the camera from cars on a small train being pulled into a corn field by a tractor.
Yeso students in grades 1-3 were able to enjoy a fun and educational field trip to the Heirloom Acres pumpkin patch.

Yeso donates to hurricane relief

Students and parents pile bags of donations in the floor in a school hallway. A male student carries bags of donated items out the door of a school.
Yeso Elementary School joined in an effort to collect donations for hurricane relief in Florida. The school's Student Leadership Council helped load the items and send them on their way.

YUCCA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Paper Takes Flight

A group of male and female students arrange layers of paper to create a hot-air balloon.

A group of students in Halloween costumes poses for the camera while holding a paper hot-air balloon. A full-sized yellow, green and red hot-air balloon rises from the ground on a school playground.
The Bandits bid farewell to a breezy October with a Paper Takes Flight workshop, in conjunction with the Balloons & Tunes Festival. To cap off the learning experience, teacher Rita Harden took a brief flight in a hot-air balloon. Click here for a video of a balloon flight.

Radical Recess goes to second grade

A group of male and female second-graders smiles for the camera on the school playground.
Yucca's second-grade Bandits were celebrated as the Radical Recess winners for the month of October after 15 days with no recess issues.

iStation iStars

A group of male and female students poses for a photo on the school playground.
Yucca celebrated students who showed the most growth in iStation reading and math for the month of October. Click here for a photo gallery.

GRAND HEIGHTS EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER

High-flying fun

A group of male and female students run across a school playground as a hot-air balloon rises into the air.
Grand Heights students joined other schools in the district in learning about hot-air balloons in conjunction with the Balloons & Tunes Festival. Click here for more photos and click here for a video.

Ticket raffle a success

A group of male and female kindergartners smiles for the camera while seated on risers with gift baskets beside them.
The Eager Beavers wrapped up their ticket raffle fundraiser, with top ticket sellers including Brynnleigh Orquiz, Liam Herrera-Simer, Cheyenne Havens, Santiago Pando, Karter Barnes, Major Baldwin, Aiden Doporto, Calvin Buck, Ashton Conn and Victoria Lafferry.

GHECC students Levelling Up

Grand Heights students are participating in the N.M. Public Education Department's Level Up Reading Challenge and saw great growth in iStation reading during the month of October. Click here for a full photo gallery!

Eager Beavers visit Bulldog Bowl

A group of kindergartners in a line files through a museum of football memorabilia. A line of kindergartners listens as a group of football players in orange-and-black jerseys speaks to them inside a weight room. Kindergartners stand alongside and sit in orange lockers in a locker room as football players in orange-and-black jerseys speak to them.
On Oct. 9, Grand Heights students took their annual field trip to Bulldog Bowl, where AHS head football coach Jeremy Maupin and members of the team treated them to a grand tour.

Grand Heights Early Childhood Center

Busy month of October in the APS