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.