Regional Development Corp & LANL Support Northern Business Students

Scholarships and internships provide valuable experience and financial support

Northern New Mexico College (NNMC) and its Business Administration department would like to thank the Regional Development Corporation (RDC), their Executive Director Val Alonzo and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) for their support for students in NNMC’s Business Administration program.

RDC’s Workforce and Educational Training program awarded $40,000 in scholarships, which provided 19 students tuition for 38 classes and 16 paid internships for the Business Capstone course taught by Dr. Lori Baca and mentored by Arnold Whipple, Kent Scotten, Shannon Roberson Wildenstein and Robert Kramer from the Project Controls and Training groups of LANL’s Capital Project Directorate.

The project offered opportunities for students to gain employment experience in business while the scholarships helped students achieve graduation goals. Employers had the opportunity to contribute to the next generation of employees without the hardship of adding to their already declining budgets and the project provided experience which will aid the local community with much needed workforce solutions to the regional workforce demand.

Of the NNMC business students receiving these scholarships, 14 students graduated with a certificate or degree.

“We appreciate the support from RDC and LANL,” said Dr. Lori Baca. “Each certificate or degree not only helps the individual but their families and ultimately the community.”

Students had the experience of reading and understanding a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) document entitled, “Program and Project Management Acquisitions of Capital Assets.” This 132-page document provided high levels of Critical Decision Milestones that are central to DOE’s Acquisition Management Systems.  Students had to create and present a training project to an NNMC and LANL audience on the Critical Decision outlined in the document as well as DOE’s Project Management Principles.

“After this experience, I now have LANL project knowledge and combined with my previous work experience, I feel I could be a viable candidate for their organization after I graduate,” said Connie Martinez, a student in the Capstone course.