Angela McCrillis comes from Georgia, where she was born and raised. Her father was a preacher and her mother was a teacher. Growing up a "preacher kid" was not the stereotype that most people make it out to be. Her parents never made her feel like she was different for being a preacher's daughter. Rules, tough love, hard work and compassions for others was enforced to her and her siblings. She has a twin brother and younger sister.
Before coming to ENMU, Angela was in the Air Force, Security Forces, which is the military police. She was stationed at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. There she met her husband who was also Air Force, Security Forces. After the Air Force, she dedicated her time to being a mom and raising her kids. During this time she also worked on getting her degree.
Angela obtained a bachelor of science in business administration with an emphasis in health care management at Liberty University. Although she wasn't involved in any university activities because it was online, she was very involved in her community. She did volunteer work, helping out single moms, low income families, clothing drive, people with medical costs from car accidents who had disabilities, and military spouses.
When Angela and her husband were ordered to Portales, she applied for the Veteran Certifying Official position at Eastern. Being a veteran herself and having an active duty husband, she felt she would be well connected and credible based on her experience. She began last May and was recently moved over to her new job on Sept. 19.
Her job with the Title V Grant is in cooperation with Clovis Community College to meet the needs for educational assistants (EA) because of the shortage of teachers in local areas expected in the next few years. Angela is in charge of the teacher pipeline for students at CCC transferring to ENMU and making sure that the transfer process is seamless and easy. Before assistants didn't have to have an associate's degree, but now they do. Now, EA's get their associates at CCC in Clovis and come to Eastern to obtain their bachelor's.
The Educators Rising is an association that the Title V Cooperative department is working with to assist local area high schools in implementing the program back into its schools. This program is for high school students who are interested in being a future educator and gives them experience mentoring youth and the ability to compete in competitions, and also keeps them passionate about wanting to teach. This program will allow them to be better prepared when entering the education program at CCC and then transferring to ENMU.
This position is "right up her alley" because it deals with helping people. The three populations they are reaching out to are Hispanic, low income and first-generation students. As a parent she sees the importance of having quality teachers for her own kids as well as other kids.
Overall, she is loving Portales with her family, (her husband and two daughters, 10 and 6). She loves how much Portales reminds her of back home in Georgia—especially the people. When she moved to Portales she immediately got involved with the Freedom Foundation, an organization for homeless veterans.
Her hobbies include crocheting and redoing old furniture from thrift stores. She goes wherever she feels "called" and keeps it that way.
"Being happy and making sure that my kids grow up well-rounded compassionate, honest and hardworking people is what I care about most," said Angela. "I am also grateful for the opportunity that I've been given here at Eastern."
