New home economist assisting in Grants

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — Students in the Grants School to Work program are being assisted by the new home economist at Cibola County Cooperative Extension Service, Pam King.

She is providing the instructor in the program, Rachel Reddington, with in-class instruction on life skills.

Recently, King showed students in the class, who are developmentally disabled, how to sew buttons.

This was a practical exercise, with homework, that allowed the students to be able to learn a life skill that would come in handy if they ever needed to do that on their own, Reddington said.

All the students have graduated from high school in the district but are not yet capable of living on or holding a job on their own. They are learning not only life skills, but how to work, so that they can earn a living.

“They are also learning how to be able to seek out help in their adult life if they should need it,” Reddington said. Personal and social interaction skills are also being shown to the students.

One student, Johnny Council, 20, of Grants, said he liked learning how to sew buttons.

“She (King) showed us how to sew buttons on pillows and she gave us homework,” he said laughing. “It was fun, I could sew my pants up if I needed,” he said.

Council graduated in 2007 from Grants High School and said he looks forward to getting a job someday. He did not know what kind of job though.

King will be instructing the students during the next few weeks with something different each week.

She comes to Cibola County from teaching at a middle school in Los Lunas, prior to that she was an extension agent in Texas for a few years.

There has been no home economist in the Cibola County Cooperative Extension Office for at least five years.

There is an ambitious agenda now. She intends to offer classes for the public in sewing, which will include how to read a pattern.

Also on the horizon are classes in cooking, and she will now handle all the clothing and consumer skills areas that all the 4-H members in Cibola County have to have for their own club projects.

She said she plans to go into the local schools and help students with healthy eating, showing the benefits of fruits and vegetables.

There will also be a cooking school for diabetics, and of course, helping the mentally challenged students in the School to Work program transition into jobs.

Information: (505) 287-9266.

To contact reporter Jim Tiffin call (505) 287-2197 or e-mail: jtiffin.independent
@yahoo.com.