Los Lunas Teacher Earns Fellowship.

Byline: Donna Redman For the Journal

Instructor To Give Reward to Students

Commuting 130 miles a day to teach fourth grade at Acoma Pueblo is a labor of love for Jeannine Perez of Los Lunas.

And now's she's getting a chance to make the experience a special one for her students as well.

Perez recently received a $1,000 fellowship from the Orion Society to develop a curriculum that promotes an appreciation of roots, heritage and place.

"The Orion Society works for an understanding of natural human societies," Perez said last week. "They view nature as a connected, inclusive whole, and define community as a web of nature and culture. I like that. …