Students Experiences at ENMU

Sabrina Garza is a junior majoring in Communicative Disorders at ENMU. Photo: Submitted

Many students come to Eastern New Mexico University for a career set in mind, along with

goals for achieving them.

Sabrina Garza is a junior majoring in Communicative Disorders. She reflected on her reasons for

coming to ENMU and how they have affected her experience. “The main two factors as to why I

decided to come to this university was because our communicative disorders program here at

Eastern … is one of the best in the nation and has a 100% passing rate on the national exam…the

second reason was because I was also offered a volleyball scholarship.” These reasons helped

shaped her answer in coming to ENMU.

Garza began with an emphasis in speech-language pathology. “I first wanted to become a

speech-language pathologist to help those who have always struggled to find their voice and help

them to be able to express their opinions,” she said. However, she eventually switched to

audiology. “Instead of being the person who gives therapy after the fact, I want to be the person

who is able to help locate why that individual is having a speech problem,” she said. She

mentioned that since being here at ENMU, she has learned a lot about the career field that she is

in and how it is affected by different environments.

Since attending ENMU, Garza has become more aware of the needs of what the school system

requires in smaller areas. Attending school here has made her realize the lack of therapy services

in rural areas increases the price for in need of the services when compared to larger cities where

people have greater access. This has widened her perspective and has helped to create her career

goals. “I want to create my own business for therapies…and link them with schools to make it

more accessible to all students no matter their economic status,” Garza said.

Cynthia Kuemmerle, a vocal performance major, came to ENMU for several reasons. “Both of

my parents went here…the really good-quality music program and the affordability.” She also

mentioned her program offers great opportunities for students pursuing this career field, which is

another reason why she chose to attend ENMU.

The music program here has allowed for Kuemmerle to explore all of her options in the field.

This helped her figure out that she was passionate of learning more about music pedagogy—the

study of the voice. She mentioned a unique thing that ENMU does is have a pedagogy practicum.

“In that class you can actually teach students voice lessons.” She also said this has helped to

prepare her for the future outside of school. After graduation, she plans on pursuing a master’s

degree in pedagogy. “Hopefully then I can go and teach at a university and have my own studio

of students, and still be able to perform,” she said. ENMU has helped her in achieving her goals

by having the chance to have great performance opportunities and meet many people who help

her move forward in her degree and career.