Starla Jones/Hobbs Municipal Schools Life may have turned out differently for Juanita Castillo had she not gotten pregnant in ninth grade. But Juanita – who would marry at the age of 15 – never regretted devoting herself to her husband and a family that would eventually number seven children. Life – then and now – is good. Still, Juanita, a …

Curtis Wynne/News-Sun EUNICE — Carla Gavilan, valedictorian of the Eunice High School Class of 2022, hopes to get her associate’s degree from New Mexico Junior College by the end of summer. She said she’s just that close. “This year has been very hectic because I took some college classes, about six of them, so I’ve been running around like a …