Central New Mexico Community College
AC-5: Immersive Experience

During the 2014 Spring Break six students from CNM's Culinary Arts Program traveled to Oaxaca to learn about Mexico's street food scenes. In partnership with the Street Food Institute, the students participated in an immersion-learning experience. They spent afternoons with a celebrated Oaxacan culinary expert, Chef Susana Trilling, at the Seasons of My Heart Cooking School, learning to cook the classic dishes of the region. Chef Trilling also wrote the book “Seasons of My Heart; A Culinary Journey Through Oaxaca, Mexico.” They spent their mornings at the Instituto Cultural de Oaxaca, studying and practicing Spanish, a much-needed skill in the culinary industry, especially in New Mexico. The students spent their evenings experiencing first-hand the renowned street food culture of Oaxaca. UPDATE: As of fall of 2015 CNM's Sustainability Curriculum Committee started offering 2 experiential learning experience-based project programs, Recyclemania is offered in the fall and Water in the Desert (#WitD) is offered in the spring. For a Certificate of Completion (in each individual program), students must immerse themselves in at least 15 hours, over 8 weeks, of activities, lectures and other learning opportunities that largely focus on local issues with waste, resource conservation and pollution. Students must provide a variety of deliverables to individual instructors, the service learning office and the Sustainability Curriculum Committee to establish completion. The films offered during these events are posted online and provided for Distance Learning students wishing to accumulate credit for participation. Water in the Desert: https://www.cnm.edu/about/sustainability/water-in-the-desert-project Recyclemania: https://www.cnm.edu/about/sustainability/recycling

Water in the Desert: https://www.cnm.edu/about/sustainability/water-in-the-desert-project Recyclemania: https://www.cnm.edu/about/sustainability/recycling