| A Determination to Succeed |
By Ellen Davis |
 |
Rosie Talamantes |
Earning a college degree is never easy, but for Rosie Talamantes '05, the path to a degree was particularly challenging.
Talamantes grew up in Las Cruces as a migrant farmworker. She was working in a local chile factory in 1987 when she was shot three times by a co-worker. She was left a quadriplegic, with only slight use of her right hand.
While undergoing rehabilitation, Talamantes heard a presentation given by two engineering professors from NMSU who also are in wheelchairs - Bill McCarthy and Ed Misquez.
McCarthy and Misquez convinced Talamantes that a career in engineering was available to her.
"There is no such thing as a disability," says McCarthy, who serves as director of a program called the Regional Alliance of Science, Engineering and Mathematics for Persons with Disabilities, which is based at NMSU.
At the time of her injury, Talamantes did not even have a high school GED. She earned that and an associate's degree in business from NMSU-Doña Ana and in 1996 she applied to the NMSU College of Engineering.
In May, Talamantes received a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from NMSU - a journey that took her eight and a half years. She earned the degree while raising two children as a single mother.
"I never thought I would make it, but with God's help I did," Talamantes says.
Those who worked with Talamantes say they knew she would make it.
"Rosie has an inner determination that pushes her to succeed," McCarthy says.
Talamantes has decided to continue her studies at NMSU to earn a master's degree. Her goal is to return to NMSU-Doña Ana as a teacher.
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