3 minute read
Sanchez Practices Communication Law for 40+ Years
By Marysa Cordova
Ernest Sanchez (B.S. 1970) is originally from the Santa Rosa, NM area but lived in numerous places throughout the country with his family due to his father’s military career. His father was stationed at Cannon Air Force Base in Clovis, NM when he enrolled at ENMU in 1966.
Ernest had attended a oneweek statewide Student Government Conference at ENMU in 1965, and he was impressed with the campus and the low cost of tuition.
As a student, Ernest worked at the KICA Radio station parttime. He wrote commercials and dealt with news coverage.
In 1968, Ernest was the Editor-in-chief of the ENMU yearbook, the Silver Pack; the same year the yearbook was honored as the “outstanding small college yearbook” by the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Press Association.
Ernest also had the opportunity to study abroad in Europe his junior year of college. He was given $500 for the ENMU Junior Year Abroad Scholarship. This helped him with his summer 1968 studies at International College in Copenhagen, Denmark. Even though that scholarship was small it was very important to him both economically and psychologically. The scholarship gave him a lot of personal encouragement and helped him raise other funds. He said, “The overall experience was incredible, I had never been overseas and it was such an exciting revelation.” As a student, Ernest worked with International Relations as well as Global Politics while he was in Europe.
His senior year (1969-70) Ernest was Editor-in-Chief of The Chase, elected to the Student Senate, and named Varsity Debater of the Year.
While Ernest was editor for The Chase, he met some very good colleagues, and among them was future Academy Award Winner, Michael Blake. Ernest also had many debate colleagues as well as professors. His debate coach, Eldon Walker, was his most influential speech professor. According to Ernest, Dr. Walker was “academically demanding but fascinating and a tireless mentor.”
When asked about the overall benefit of attending ENMU, Ernest replied, “It’s been said that education is what you have left when you have forgotten what you learned in class. If that is true, then I have carried away an incredible amount of education from Eastern. I have also carried away a profound sense that there is wonderful world class talent waiting to be discovered, not just in famous institutions and big cities, but in places like Portales and ENMU.”
After graduation, Ernest attended Georgetown University Law Center. He went on to work for: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Public Radio, Liberman, Sanchez, & Bently, Arter & Haden, Baker & McKenzie, and The Sanchez Law Firm.
Ernest currently owns his own law firm with partner and wife Susan Jenkins. He represents broadcast stations, like KENW-TV at ENMU, before the Federal Communications Commission. He also works with cable television and satellite channels on the legal aspects of film and program production, acquisition, distribution, and marketing.
Ernest says, “I’ve been extraordinarily lucky my whole life to have the support of loving parents and a large extended, multi-generational family. Because of ENMU’s personalized education, I have been able to compete for the last forty years in the fast paced professions of journalism and law in Washington, D.C. and internationally.”
“I have to give ENMU a lot of credit,” said Ernest, “ for helping me prepare to compete in the real world and for giving me many lifelong friends.”
