Gabrielle Arsiaga/News-Sun JAL —Jal High School’s 2022 valedictorian is Stanton Richard — but he didn’t even know he was in the running until last year. Even so, Richard — a life-long resident of Jal — has worked hard his whole high school career to get to where he’s at today. “I didn’t learn I was in the running for this …

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 …

ANDY BROSIG NEWS-SUN It was almost too close to call coming down to the wire, with just a few tenths of a point difference in the race for valedictorian and salutatorian for the Hobbs High School Class of 2022. It’s almost been a race between seniors Ann Mary Thomas, 18, and Brieanna Carr, 17, since the pair met during their …

Dorothy Fowler/News-Sun At a Wednesday afternoon special meeting members of the New Mexico Junior College Board named Derek Moore to be the seventh president of the college. Moore, who was the first of five applicants interviewed by the board in April, said he plans to be in Hobbs and on the job by the third week in June. Steve McCleery, …

For the News-Sun LOVINGTON – During Tuesday’s Lovington Board of Education meeting, Superintendent of Schools LeAnne Gandy announced her retirement. “I want to share the news that I plan to retire from the Lovington School District on Aug. 1,” gandy said. “I am eternally grateful to the community and the school board for allowing me to have had the opportunity …

Starla Jones/HMS Just like his signature trumpet solo, Rusty Crowe has “Got to Fly Now.” After spending 19 years at the helm, Crowe retires next month as Hobbs High School band director in order to move closer to his daughters and grandchildren. Known during basketball games for his red-faced rendition of the upper-range, ear piercing notes from that Rocky song, …

ANDY BROSIG NEWS-SUN After more than a year of fluctuating numbers, enrollment in the Hobbs Municipal Schools is inching its way back toward pre-pandemic levels. They’re not there yet, LaShawn Byrd, deputy director for data analysis for the district told the Hobbs Board of Education last week. But the outlook is “definitely positive,” she said. School districts across the state …

Jason Farmer/News-Sun Back in 2019, the Hobbs cheer squad won its first NMAA state championship. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and wiped out sports, canceling the 2020 championships and a chance to repeat. Schools slowly re-opened for the 2020-21 year and all sports were condensed into four months. Because of that, Hobbs elected not to participate in competitive cheer. “We …

NEWS-SUN STAFF REPORT On Thursday, the New Mexico Junior College Board of Directors announced the five selected finalists for the presidency of NMJC. “We would like to thank the entire college community for your continued interest and support in the process to identify our next president. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank each member of the …