The Associated Students at the University of New Mexico recently announced their new executive directors of the various student service agencies. Among them is the newly appointed Community Experience director Sierra Quintana, who brings past senatorial experience, a strong sense for the responsibilities of community and bold ambition to the position.
Quintana, an incoming junior, has been involved with ASUNM since she was a freshman: first with the Emerging Lobo Leaders program, then as a senator and vice presidential candidate. As an electrical engineering major, she’s also heavily involved elsewhere on campus as the president of the Society for Women Engineers and a member of a Panhellenic society.
As a senator, she was the chair of the Steering and Rules committee and worked as Community Experience’s senator, giving her firsthand experience with the agency, even allowing her to add to their responsibilities.
“I really like their events, and I really enjoy their community service,” Quintana said. “As a senator, one of the last things I did was add a sustainability initiative to CE’s responsibilities, so I was very excited when I was chosen as executive director because I feel like I have a vision in my head.”
Quintana plans to devote one meeting per month to promoting sustainable practices through volunteer work that not only shares the importance of conservation, but teaches community members how to work it into actual lifestyle changes. To this end, Quintana has reached out to UNM Leaders for Environmental Action and Foresight about working with CE for these meetings.
Most of CE’s responsibilities are community service projects, including Fall Frenzy and Spring Storm, which focus on inward and outward service, respectively. Fall Frenzy, which will take place around homecoming, promotes campus cleanup, while Spring Storm encourages service for the broader Albuquerque community — Quintana is in charge of overseeing it all, from hiring to organizing.
“It’s my job to make sure the team is running smoothly,” Quintana said. “I’m already brainstorming, going through all the old documents from last year … I’m trying to learn as much as I can.”
It’s this experience and work ethic that made Quintana such a terrific choice for the job, according to ASUNM President Ian May, who, with Vice President Krystah Pacheco, hired Quintana.
“Sierra had a really impressive interview,” May wrote to the Daily Lobo. “We are excited to have her at the helm as we shape the (sustainability) initiative for the future of ASUNM. Sierra is also intimately familiar with Fall Frenzy and Spring Storm, which are big events CE puts on each year.”
On top of her sustainability initiative, Quintana has other big plans for CE this year, most notably regarding membership.
“I definitely want to increase our volunteer base … I also want to create a dialogue between students; what causes do you care about that we can impact in our community? Then my team — how can we implement a project that we can give back to those causes?” Quintana said.
To accomplish these goals, Quintana hopes to work closely with the other student service agencies, specifically Lobo Spirit.
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“I definitely think we’re stronger when we work together and support each other,” Quintana said.
Students interested in joining Community Experience or staying updated on their service opportunities can visit their website and check them out on Instagram.
Spenser Willden is the culture editor at the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @spenserwillden
