Haylee Viramontes recent graduate from New Mexico State University will be studying cyber security at Carnegie Mellon University this fall. (NMSU photo by Josh Bachman)
Sometimes the powers that be fail to recognize the potential resources in less advantaged groups or locations.
This story below, of a student that climbed up from a rural school district in one of the poorest areas in the US, is instructive that talent isn’t confined to the high income areas. The US has latent capability residing on the wrong side of the tracks… in the less digitally supported locales where traditions of academic success are often hard to access.
One thing those areas sometimes have is family support, and community support, which can make all the difference as with the young woman Haylee Viramontes from Anthony NM a rural town of about 9K population. Gadsden School District has actively worked to take the resources they can manage to obtain and support academic achievement for students like Haylee.
Success and inspiration through NMSU Honors College | Las Cruces Bulletin
Still, the areas in Dona Ana County outside Las Cruces are very poor and have many economic and social challenges. Family support of education is too often not at the levels such as have enabled Haylee Viramontes to rise all the way to Carnegie Mellon University. But those children also have latent capacities that we hope broadband access and AI tools can support, perhaps in a “Community School” context.