Some alumni of Northern New Mexico College’s El Rito campus are planning to build a memorial structure to commemorate the campus’s “dying breed.”
They plan to raise $15,000 to construct the structure, which will formally be called El Portal del Águila, to honor alumni of the defunct institution, said Samuel Garcia, member of the campus’s Alumni Association. The last batch of alumni left the campus in 1969.
“We’re getting older,” he said. “It’s something that we would like to contribute to the campus of El Rito to memorialize the students that contributed in a way.”
According to the project proposal, the structure will comprise a memorial wall, a pillar and five wooden beams that will symbolize the Normal School and its administration, faculty and staff. The flooring will be made of colored concrete pavers.
The structure will be located at the southwest corner of the campus and will be visible from State Road 554 once completed, the proposal states.
Founded in 1909 and once known as the Spanish American Normal School, the campus served as a school for teachers. About 1,500 students graduated from the school, while it was in operation as a high school, until 1969.
The school was one of three normal schools in the state. The other two were New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas and Western New Mexico University in Silver City.
Initially, alumni estimated the cost of the project at $35,000, Garcia said. But after completion of engineering drawings, they determined it would be possible to build it for $15,000.
Garcia said money for the structure will come from the Association’s funds and so far, alumni have raised about $5,000. He said the structure is important for the school.
“We feel that by having this, it will give the students the visual image of their legacy,” he said.
Northern’s Board of Regents unanimously approved the construction of the project at a meeting in July, Northern Vice President of Institutional Advancement Ricky Serna said.
He said the Board’s Finance and Facilities Committee members are currently discussing the possibility of contributing funds toward the construction of the structure.
Once built, Northern officials will be responsible for maintaining it, he said.
Although he said the project will not directly ameliorate specific educational factors including Northern’s enrollment numbers, Serna believes the project is the institution’s way of giving back to the community.
“It’s important for the college because it sustains the importance of the institution,” he said. “It’s always important to pay tribute. Everything that we do reaffirms our commitment with the institution’s missions.”
Serna said regents originally discussed the possibility of putting the memorial at the main campus so more people can see it, but he said it was ultimately more appropriate to establish it in El Rito.
Garcia agrees.
“That (El Rito) is where the experience was,” he said. “The college was not even in existence at that time.”
Garcia said although alumni don’t have a specific timetable for the project, they aim to finish construction next year. He said they plan to break ground once they gather required funds.