In 2025, the University of New Mexico welcomed 3,815 incoming first-year students, the largest entering class in its 137-year history. Fifty-six years earlier, 60 students from rural New Mexico arrived on that same campus for a summer immersion program that would shape how generations of Lobos find their way into UNM.
In 1969, the summer experience gave students time to get familiar with university life by exploring campus, strengthening their foundational academic skills, and building connections with others beginning a similar journey. The idea behind this program was practical and personal: give rural students time to find their footing, understand what would be expected of them, and create a safe space for the questions that come when you're the first in your family to attempt college. That summer marked the beginning of the College Enrichment Program and a commitment that has guided our work for 57 years, laying the groundwork for UNM’s first mandatory orientation program.
Today, CEP welcomes approximately 6,000 incoming students and their families through orientation experiences for first-year, transfer, returning, online, and branch-campus students. An experience once built around a cohort of rural students now reaches the broader undergraduate community, recognizing that students arrive at UNM through different paths.
While scaling its services has made the work different and sometimes more complicated, it has also made CEP’s original purpose even more important. When thousands of people arrive, it takes deliberate attention to notice the one student who is unsure of the next step. A completed form tells us one thing, but a conversation can tell us much more. Welcoming students means taking the time to learn what they need, even as more people walk through the door.
As a first-generation student from rural New Mexico myself, I know that wanting to go to college and knowing how to navigate it are two different things. A student may leave orientation with a schedule and new classmates they are excited to see again but then encounter something entirely different a few weeks into the semester. A difficult exam can shake a student's confidence. Work, financial pressures, and homesickness can add challenges they may not have anticipated. The student’s goal may not change, but their circumstances can. At CEP, we try to make those questions easier to ask and the solutions easier to find.
Over the years, CEP has adapted by continuing to provide students with a support structure, not only during orientation but throughout their academic journey. Recognizing that commuter students often have to fit theireducation around work, family responsibilities, and financial circumstances. CEP brought peer support into their classes. This approach centers on Peer Learning Facilitators working alongside instructors in gateway courses. For a student juggling a commute and a job, having help inside the classroom they are already in removes another trip to campus from an already crowded day.
Those relationships can carry a conversation beyond an assignment. A request for help that starts with an unclear homework assignment may eventually lead to a student sharing a concern about staying enrolled. A check-in from a CEP Lobo Companion, one of the peers mentoring first-year and first-generation students, may give someone an opening to admit they have not registered because they do not know how to resolve a hold. Whether in the classroom or through a mentoring relationship, students have someone they can turn to when they aren’t sure what to do next.
For some students, finding their way includes leaving college and returning later. Antonette Parrillo stepped away to raise her children. Although she was determined to finish, figuring out how to pay for college became a new challenge when she returned. Her academic advisor introduced her to the Osher Re-entry Scholarship, which helped her continue and complete her degree. The scholarship is supported by the Bernard Osher Foundation and assists students pursuing their first bachelor's degree who have experienced a combined interruption of five or more years in their postsecondary education. As Antonette reflected, “Re-entry to the University of New Mexico in my thirties was a true gift.” The scholarship let her focus on her studies without constantly worrying about how she would cover the cost. A first-generation student, Antonette ultimately graduated Summa cum laude with her dual bachelor's degrees in political science and sociology. For her, walking across the graduation stage was about more than earning a degree - it was also a personal milestone and an opportunity to fulfill a goal she had once put on hold.
Miriam Barba’s circumstances were different. As an out-of-state student, Miriam often found the cost of housing and tuition overwhelming. The El Mezquite Scholarship, supported by El Mezquite Market, eased that pressure. But her connection with CEP extended well beyond the award. Through the program, Miriam received guidance with financial aid, built relationships with other scholars, and served as New Student Orientation Leader for 3 summers. Looking back, she credits CEP with helping her earn her degrees, secure her first postgraduate position, and develop a support system that continues to influence her life after graduation. As she put it, “I was given more than just financial assistance. I was given an opportunity to pursue my dreams.”
At UNM, a Hispanic-Serving Institution, nearly half of the student body is first-generation. CEP’s founding purpose remains close to home. Family responsibilities, work, and financial circumstances don't disappear when someone becomes a college student: they are part of the journey. In 1969, meeting students where theywere meant to bring 60 young people to campus for a summer introduction to college. Today, it can mean sitting beside a student in a gateway course or helping a parent return to an unfinished degree. And tomorrow, it may look a little different, too. Across 57 years, CEP has continued to evolve while holding onto that first commitment: understanding where students are, where they want to go, and how to help them take the next step.
About the author
Trinidad Mendoza serves as Director of the College Enrichment Program at the University of New Mexico. Born in Chihuahua, Mexico and raised in a farm working family in the rural community of Hatch, New Mexico, he is a first-generation college graduate who brings more than 20 years of university experience to advancing college access, student connection, and persistence toward graduation.
