U M N E o t s d n e t n e Followed Fri d i s e r P y d o B t n e d u t S e m and Beca
By Noelle Bartl
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NMU senior Justin Aguilar, from Farmington, NM, chose to attend ENMU because his two best friends had enrolled. The friends transferred out, but Justin stayed and maximized every opportunity to get involved.
Justin was elected as ASENMU President for his last year of college. Under his leadership this past Fall, the students overwhelmingly supported a student fee increase toward Justin Aguilar $4 million investment in a new stadium. Justin is most proud of this achievement knowing the students took ownership of transforming the future of ENMU and Portales. “The current students will return to campus for future homecoming weekends and will tell their children they helped build the stadium.”
When asked about his biggest challenge, Justin replied, “Stepping into the spotlight and representing the entire student body was quite an experience. You get the good with the bad including praise, compliments and hate mail. I’ve learned a lot.” Before becoming president, Justin also demonstrated his leadership skills in the Theta Zeta Chapter of Kappa Sigma fraternity as the chair of the 50th homecoming reunion weekend in 2012. When he was only a sophomore, Justin organized the fraternity’s first annual Run for the Heroes event raising $4,000 for the Fisher House Foundation. “Presenting the check to a Fisher House Representative made a real impact on my fraternity brothers and me,” said the mathematics major. Because of his leadership abilities, Justin was asked to direct the annual Mud Volleyball Tournament not just once but again this spring during his last semester of college. “It should be easy since I’d been through it once before. Students love this event that raises money for ENMU Foundation scholarships.” Justin’s career plans are to become an analyst and work on an MBA. He has his sights set on Sandia Labs in Albuquerque.
An ENMU Athletics Love Story quality education. However, they left ENMU with far more than a degree … they left with one another! Jeff and Laci were high school sweethearts with aspirations of continuing to play sports after graduating. “ENMU was the place we both received scholarships to play and by accepting those scholarships we were able to stay together during college,” Laci explained.
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Laci, Natassja and Jeff Howard
tudents have many reasons for choosing ENMU. Jeff Howard (BS 06) and Laci (Lee) Howard (BS 05) chose to attend ENMU in order to keep playing the sports they love while obtaining a 8
Green & Silver | May 2014
Laci was a star Zia basketball player. She was Lone Star Conference South Division AllAcademic twice, made the commissioner’s honor roll, was all conference, and still ranks 17th on the Zia career-scoring list. Jeff’s Greyhound football jersey was retired after a senior year, which concluded his college career with three All-America
honors, two All-Lone Star Conference South selections, and Academic All-District selection. This athletic power couple was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Honors in 2011. But ENMU wasn’t just about athletics. Jeff and Laci both valued their education and majored in Biology with an emphasis in Pre-med. While neither of the two chose to pursue a career in the medical field, both learned to be dedicated and work hard through their educational experience. “We learned a lot about dedication,” Laci explained, “We learned that to be successful there must be sacrifice and hard work. Success is not something that is instant but must be earned over time with consistent effort.” The couple’s hard work and dedication has paid off. After graduation, Jeff began his coaching career in football at the high
