Cielo Azul Elementary nurse wins Horizon Award

RIO RANCHO — School is back in session. That means bumps, bruises and runny noses are back in session as well, and Rio Rancho Public Schools has just the nurses to help deal with those issues, according to the New Mexico School Nurse Association (NMSNA), which recognized Andrea Rice of Cielo Azul Elementary with this year’s Horizon Award.

“The Horizon Award recognizes a school nurse within the first three years of practice who demonstrates outstanding school nursing practice and leadership,” according to nmsna.net.

Rice, or “Nurse Andrea” to her patients, graduated in August 2021 with a Registered Nurse (RN) degree from CNM and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from UNM thanks to their dual-degree program. She began working at the Cielo Azul Health Office in February 2022.

“I love working with students and their families and getting a chance to know them and watch them grow,” Rice says in her school nursing profile. “Our goal in the Cielo Azul Health Office is to help our students be healthy and ready to learn.

The Horizon Award was given out during a three-day conference in June hosted by Las Cruces Public Schools and held at Centennial High School.

According to the LCPS website, at the conference, “school nurses throughout the state discussed a variety of topics, including partnerships between nurses and the New Mexico Alliance for School Based Health Care, nursing strategies, drug recognition education and more.”