Vanessa McBee, a Greyhound Grad and an academic specialist for Eastern New Mexico University's TRIO Talent Search, says as a first-generation college student herself, she wishes Talent Search had been available for her.

Talent Search is a pre-college program focused on preparing students for postsecondary education. They serve 854 6th-12th students from Clovis, Portales and Tucumcari. All of the services are free.

She began working for Talent Search in 2013, and her daily activities in the grant-funded program include checking students' grades, registering them for the ACT, completing college admissions applications, financial aid paperwork and scholarship applications.

"TRIO works," Vanessa said. "We help alleviate the stress of preparing for college by handling a lot of the workload for our students and their parents. We pay for students to take the ACT and also help them fill out the FAFSA (financial aid form).

"We can do just about everything to help prepare them for college. It makes me feel good when our students can relax and enjoy their senior year of high school because we have them prepared for their first year of college and they can just focus on the class work."

Vanessa has worked on and off at ENMU since she started college in 2005. She began as a work-study student and has worked her way up to her current position after completing her degree.

"What I enjoy most about my job is working with the students," Vanessa said. "Every day is a different school, different atmosphere and, of course, working with many different types of students makes it a challenge.

"Our students keep us laughing and keep the work environment fun and constantly changing from day to day. I enjoy being able to share my experiences in college whether it was good or bad to prepare them for success. College was one of the best times of my life. I met some of my greatest friends in college as well as meeting my husband.

"Our program serves 854 students, and we see them all every month, so that is a lot of different personalities."

She says the biggest challenges are traveling and being on the go most of the week.

Before her current job, Vanessa worked at the ENMU Bookstore. She was a cashier and helped students find their books for the upcoming semester.

Vanessa says she has always known that she wanted to work in education. When she discovered Talent Search, the "position was exactly what I was meant to do. I see students facing some of the same challenges I faced in preparing for college, so being able to help them has been great."

She moved to Portales to attend ENMU in 2005 and never left. She considers the town a great place to raise her children.

Vanessa graduated from Jal High School in New Mexico in 2003. She has four sisters and a younger brother.

She says her sisters and her were all close in age and outgoing. They participated in every sport together, and have great memories from childhood and high school.

Vanessa attended New Mexico State University from 2003-2005. A sister who was at ENMU talked her into transferring to ENMU. She graduated in 2012 with a bachelor's degree in psychology with an emphasis in education in 2012.

Her career goal is to advance further at ENMU. "Becoming a part of ENMU's staff was one of the biggest blessings to my family and me. I would love to retire from here," she said.

Vanessa and her husband, a football coach, are very involved with their daughter' numerous activities. Their daughter is in the 5th grade and is passionate about basketball and softball. They have coached her basketball team every season since the 1st grade. Their daughter recently suffered a black eye after taking an elbow in a basketball tournament, but after the pain subsided, she wore it proudly.

They also love to travel. They don't have family in the area, so they are always on the go when they have time off. Most of the time, they travel to watch their nephews or nieces compete in sports, go fishing, skiing or visit family for the holidays.

"We love adventure and being outdoors. We are very active in making family memories," Vanessa said.

Vanessa says she is all about her daughter, nieces and nephews.

"Watching them grow up is happy and sad for me. They are the coolest people I know."

Vanessa was born in Hobbs, New Mexico, and raised in Jal.

"I grew up with a large family, and it was the funniest chaos," she said. "My parents had four daughters all very close in age and a younger son. My siblings and I are extremely close. We talk every day all day. As a matter of fact, my sisters live in Eunice, New Mexico, and they are all neighbors. That should tell you how close we are. They often try to get us to move to Eunice, but we are content with where we are. We are an outgoing family. There is never a dull moment."

Vanessa and her husband, Mason, have been together since 2005. They met at ENMU. He graduated in 2010 with a bachelor' in elementary education. He has been teaching physical education in in Dora, New Mexico, for seven years, He is also the varsity football and baseball coach.

Their daughter, MaKenna, gets to go to school with her dad every day.

"She continues to grow into an amazing young lady," Vanessa said. "She was the Dora Elementary spelling bee champion in 2014 and 2015 and got to compete at regionals at ENMU." She also loves playing basketball and softball.

Vanessa says they want to expand their family. "MaKenna has been the model child for us we would love to have more just like her."

She says MaKenna turns 11 in February and the years have just flown by.

"They have been the greatest years for Mason and me. We enjoy being parents and making the best memories we possibly can."