New Mexico Tech Students Give Back to Socorro During ‘The Big Event’
April 9, 2022
Students, staff deliver 500 hours of service in inaugural community cleanup day
Lizzy Carrillo, left, a senior from Roswell studying biomedical sciences, and Jennifer
Gamboa Gil, a senior from Las Cruces studying chemical engineering, attend the pre-event
briefing on the steps of the Fidel Center at New Mexico Tech.
SOCORRO, N.M. – Nearly 100 students and staff members from the New Mexico Tech gave 500 hours of
service Saturday, April 9, volunteering in their community. The inaugural community
service event, dubbed “The Big Event,” provided an opportunity for students and staff
to pick up trash and spruce up areas around Socorro.
New Mexico Tech President Stephen G. Wells, center, welcomes students, faculty, and
staff to the first-ever Big Event at the university, urging them to be not just "excellent
scientists and engineers, but good global citizens." From left, Director of Student
Affairs and International Programs Michael Voegerl and Socorro Mayor Ravi Bhasker
listen to Wells in the background in front of the Fidel Center.
New Mexico Tech President Stephen G. Wells led a spirited kickoff event in front of
the Fidel Center before sending students and staff out into parks, along major streets,
and other locations in Socorro, including the DAV (Disabled American Veterans), Socorro
Village, and Safe Harbor.
Nearly 100 students, faculty, staff, and family members participated in New Mexico
Tech's first-ever "Big Event," aimed at helping the university community give back
to its host city by cleaning up trash at several dozen locations throughout the Socorro.
“Be good global citizens – not just excellent scientists and engineers,” he told the
students.
Socorro Mayor Ravi Bhasker thanked the students for volunteering time on their weekend
to give back to their host community.
“We really appreciate this,” he said. “To pitch in like this – hopefully we will make
this an annual event.”
From left, Nathan Rosenberg, Aabhushan Pokharel, and Alejandra Mayorga helped clean
up trash in Sedillo Park in Socorro as part of The Big Event, the first-ever community
service volunteer effort sponsored by New Mexico Tech. Rosenberg is a senior studying
environmental engineering. Pohkarel is a doctoral student studying computer science.
Mayorga is a graduate student pursuing a master's degree in electrical engineering.
According to Michael Voegerl, director of Student Affairs and International Programs
coordinator, the New Mexico Tech-sponsored day is part of a national collegiate event.
And, since the event takes place in April, it coincides with spring cleanup efforts
and Earth Day celebrations later in April.
Alejandra Mayorga, left, holds open a trash bag for Mitchell Tappen to deposit trash
he found in Sedillo Park in Socorro. Mayorga, a graduate student pursuing a master's
degree in electrical engineering, and Tappen, director of the Macey Children's Center
on the New Mexico Tech campus, participated in the university's first-ever community
service event April 9 titled "The Big Event."
Equipped with shovels, rakes, garbage bags, gloves, and sharps containers, student
and staff teams fanned out across Socorro to fill hundreds of trash and recycling
bags, clean up a community garden site, and ensure kids playing in parks and playgrounds
are safe from needles and other sharp materials.
Raking the plot New Mexico Tech owns near the intersection of Leroy and Bullock is
Jonathan Dooley, a graduate student in the Physics Department. Dooley is active in
the campus garden club and was helping to prepare the property the university recently
acquired to use for a community garden. The cleanup effort was part of the first-ever
community service event titled "The Big Event," which drew nearly 100 volunteers to
give back to the city of Socorro.
Jorge Quiroga, a freshman from Albuquerque studying electrical engineering, said he
usually spends his Saturdays studying in the library.
“It’s good to do something with my weekend,” he said. “Why not do something good?”
Team O poses with some of the recycling and garbage they picked up near the Mountain
Springs Apartments. Nearly 100 students, faculty, and staff participated in New Mexico
Tech's first-ever community service day to give back to the city of Socorro April
9. From left, Lizzy Carrillo, left, a senior from Roswell studying biomedical sciences;
Jennifer Gamboa Gil, a senior from Las Cruces studying chemical engineering; Laura
Barker, a mental health counselor at the university's Counseling Center; Kiran Rao,
a computer science graduate student; and Tatyana Makhnina, a freshman biology major.
Jennifer Gamboa Gil, a senior from Las Cruces studying chemical engineering, said
she had never picked up trash as part of a community cleanup effort.
“I think it’ll be interesting to see how much trash is collected,” she said.
Kiran Rao, a computer science graduate student, shows off a dirty water bottle someone
abandoned in the bushes near the New Mexico Tech campus in Socorro April 9. Rao was
one of nearly 100 students, faculty, and staff who participated in New Mexico Tech's
first-ever community service day, titled The Big Event.
Lizzy Carrillo, a senior from Roswell studying biomedical sciences, was enthusiastic
for the opportunity to give back to the community.
“I’m excited to make use of my time on a weekend,” she said. “It’s good for students
to see what’s going on around them.”
Funmilola Nwokocha, a second-year doctoral student from Nigeria studying mechanical
engineering, said she was participating in “The Big Event” to do some walking and
to help the community.
Volunteers were treated to box lunches at noontime and rewarded with T-shirts and
a dinner and dance with live music from local bands at the New Mexico Tech Golf Pavilion.
