Dec. 5 Smartboard

Dec. 4—Santa Fe educator receives Teacher as Hero Award

Kearny Elementary teacher, Tamara Quintana,was presented with the National Liberty Museum's Teacher as Hero award, on Friday.

She was given the award in recognition of her working teaching children with autism basic life skills and how to speak, read, write and do math.

The award aims to honor educators who have gone above and beyond for their students and serve as role models for other teachers.

Quintanta was one of 11 teachers from across the country to be selected for the award and was the first teacher in New Mexico to receive the honor.

The honorees were chosen from among 30 national applications from eight states: Pennsylvania, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, North Carolina, New Mexico and California. The teachers were nominated by fellow educators, school administrators, students and community members, who shared stories of how they helped their communities.

Winter Wonderland Craft and Vendor Fair

Santa Fe Public Schools will be hosting a Winter Wonderland Craft and Vendor Fair. There will be free crafts for kids and jewelry, ornaments, fairy hair, art and gifts for sale.

The fair will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Santa Fe High School's auxiliary gym.

Student loan payment pause extended

The U.S. Department of Education announced that the student loan payment pause has been extended until after litigation over President Biden's student loan debt cancellation is finished.

The debt forgiveness would have covered $10,000, or $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients, in students loans. It was put on pause after a federal judge in Texas declared it to be illegal. The Biden administration is hoping to reverse the decision in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The student loan payment pause is extended until 60 days after the Department of Education is permitted to implement the debt relief program, or the litigation is resolved. If the program has not been implemented and the litigation has not been resolved by June 30, 2023, payments will resume 60 days after that.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Honors the Institute of American Indian Arts

The Institute of American Indian Arts received a certificate of congratulations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday. This marks the 15th time the college has received funding from USDA Rural Development.

The almost $345,000 received in the latest round of funding will be used to install solar panels and an electric vehicle parking station on campus. In the past, the Agriculture department funded the construction of the Library and Technology Center and the completion of the Performing Arts and Fitness Center, among others.

Computer science education week kicks off Monday

In celebration of computer science education week, the New Mexico Public Education Department will connect students and teachers with experts in the field to learn all about it.

Each day of the week, K-8 computer science specialist Philip Friedman will host virtual conversations with panelists in career paths in computers that appeal to young people. This includes computer scientists from Google.

To learn more about computer science education week, visit www.csedweek.org.