Our people: Pulling double duty

Reydecel Coss is the director of campus life at Eastern New Mexico University, but since 2009, his freshman year at ENMU, he has also been a student.

He currently holds four degrees-two bachelor's degrees and two master's – from ENMU, and he's working on another at ENMU, a master of Business Administration degree.

Using counseling experience, fluency in Spanish and his experience as the first in his family to enroll in college, Coss presides over a wide range of student activities and advising at ENMU.

He has also tried his hand at local politics.

Coss talked to The News last week about his career, his interests and ENMU. Here are our questions and his responses.

Q. How many degrees do you have from ENMU?

A. I have four of them. I have a master of arts in Counseling, a master's in Education, a bachelor of science in Agricultural Science and a bachelor of arts in Spanish.

Q. And you're working on yet another degree, is that right?

A. I'm working on a master of Business Administration degree.

Q. And all at ENMU?

A. All of them.

Q. What are you going to do with all those degrees?

A. Well, I call myself a life-long learner. I like studying, I like learning.

Q. How did you get to your current position?

A. When I graduated with my first master's degree in 2016, I was lucky enough to get hired as a coordinator for campus life. Within two years I transitioned to the director.

Q. What does student life entail?

A. It deals with the learning and process of students and how they adapt to campus life, college life. It's how they transition from being at home with family to being on their own. Going from having mom and dad wake you up to getting yourself up and going to class, making friends by yourself.

It's helping students identify themselves and what they want to become, and sometimes helping students transition into their degree path or finding what they're comfortable with.

It's getting to know their actual interests. It includes Greeks (fraternities and sororities), Dog Days activities for first-year students; Campus life.

It's helping non-tradtiional students come back to school, and they're always welcome to participate in Dog Days.

We operate a designated driver program to assist students who become intoxicated. We also work with the Associated Student Activities Board.

We do fun activities like Grocery Bingo. We buy a whole lot of groceries and students play for grocery items for their dorm rooms or their roommates if they share apartments. They can win (fabric softener) or laundry detergent, or a loaf of bread and peanut butter.

Q. Do you do a lot of one-on-one interaction with students?

A. We do one-on-one, especially with internships. I work with Linda Ramos, the assistant director of Campus Life.

Q, What's your favorite part of the job?

A. It's watching students come in as freshmen, stay here for years and come out as professionals ready to go to work. It's watching them develop year by year. I like seeing students grow to become professionals.

Q. Do you have involvements with the Portales community?

A. I'm on the Portales Cultural Arts Committee, and I'm also a part of the Portales Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

Q. Are you there as an ENMU representative or as Rey Coss?

A. Both as campus and community member.

Q. After your unsuccessful run for mayor in February 2022, would you consider another run for office?

A. I've been asked that a couple times. We'll see. I'm entering the next phase of my life. I proposed to my fiancé, Blessy Joseph, (a wellness counselor at ENMU) and she said "yes." Is running for office something I want to do in the future? Yes. I want to help the community, helping our state grow and our city grow as well. If I get the chance, I'll run with it.

Q. What do you like about living in Portales?

A. You walk into a pharmacy, walk into a Walmart and you see someone you know. Or you've seen them before had some kind of conversation with them.

They ask how you're doing and you ask them how they're doing. If you need to talk to someone, they're there. It's a very friendly environment and that's what I like. If you need, say, a mechanic, they'll tell you who to call. It's the connections, I guess. WE have friendly faces. Everybody's willing to lend a hand.

Q. What do you do when you have spare time?

A. Now, I'm spending a lot of time with my fiancée. I come to student events and go to the games, and I attend city events. Community activities are my thing.

Q. Do you have family living around here?

A. My dad's family is from Hobbs. My mom's side lives in the Riverside, Calif., area. I was born in a hospital in Palm Springs, Calif.

My younger brother Adrian graduated from high school in Beaumont, Calif., but now he works here at the information desk in the Administration Building.

All the rest of my brothers and sisters graduated from Hobbs High.

Q. You mentioned that ENMU is a first-generation campus, with many students who represent the first generation of their families to attend college. Could you elaborate on that?

A. Yes, many are first-generation, like me. I was the first in my family to attend college. That cleared the path for the rest of my cousins and others to come after me.

Q. How did you get to ENMU?

A. In high school, I was very involved in FFA (Future Farmers of America), and did a lot of competitions in dairy, poultry and agri-business, and I showed some hogs. I was really involved. A lot of those competitions were at Eastern. I got to know (Michael) O'Connor, who taught agricultural education. I wanted to major in Agricultural Education. I was considering the University of New Mexico and New Mexico State. He said I should attend Eastern. I enrolled at Eastern in 2009 and I've been here ever since.

Q. Agriculture and Spanish don't seem to be related to each other, but you got bachelor's degrees in both. How did that come about?

A. I came in as an Agricultural Education major. That's what I wanted to do. My father is from Mexico, and I grew up fluent in Spanish. When I got here, a friend recommended that I take some classes in Spanish. I did and I really enjoyed it, so I got a degree in Spanish, too.

Q. How has your fluency in Spanish helped you at ENMU?

A. I mentioned we are a first-generation school. Sometimes parents come and don't speak English and don't know what's going on, so we want to make sure they have an easy transition. Linda Romero and I are both fluent in Spanish and we wear "Hablo Español" buttons at events. If these parents have questions we can answer them and break it down for them.

I also spent two summers in Guatemala, one as a regular student and the other doing a study. I served as a translator for other guests on the tour. We climbed Mayan pyramids and spent time with the Mayan people in the mountains, getting to know their culture. We even washed our clothes by hand.

Q. What is the story behind the original painting on your wall?

A. (Jose) Contreras was my Spanish adviser. He told me if I got a master's degree, he'd give me one of his paintings. When I walked across the stage after receiving the master's diploma, he gave me that painting.

Q. Have you done any teaching at ENMU?

A. I taught Animal Science Careers. Last semester was my last semester to do that.