The Demands of Work and School Were No Match for This Determined CNM Grad

Divinity Trever was 12 when she started helping her grandmother who owned a snow cone stand in East Texas. She hasn’t stopped working since.

Through high school, car troubles, life challenges, and the past two and a half years, she has been working toward her associate degree at CNM. Divinity balances the demands of pursuing her education while holding down a job with ease.

“My mom and grandma instilled a strong ethic in me,” she said. “And while it hasn’t always been easy, working is just part of my backbone. I don’t know what else I would do with my time.”

Divinity was born in Roswell and lived there until she was 10. She then moved to Georgia for a short time before settling in East Texas, where she graduated high school 13th in her class.

After graduation, Divinity packed up her things and headed back to New Mexico, this time to Albuquerque, to attend CNM, where her dad also teaches.

“I was a little nervous at first,” she said. “Albuquerque would be the biggest city I had lived in.”

But, as she does with most things, Divinity handled the adjustment with grace.

Today, Divinity is just shy of 22 and will graduate on May 3 with an associate degree in History. She has worked full-time in retail while taking classes full-time for nearly her entire two and a half years at CNM.

“A normal day involves waking up around 9 a.m., getting ready for school, going to class, grabbing a bite to eat before heading to work, and then working until 8 or 9,” she said. “When I get home, I’ll eat and then work on whatever projects I’ve got going on.”

Her load will get a little lighter this summer, though.

“I’m taking the summer off,” she said. “Well, from classes — I’ll still be working.”

Next semester, Divinity plans to take some prerequisites at CNM before hopefully transferring to UNM to pursue a degree in Museum Science.

When asked why she chose History, Divinity cited a well-known Winston Churchill quote: “History is written by the victors.”

“They say the victors get to tell the story, but I want to know the other side. I want to uncover those hidden stories,” she said.

With her trademark work ethic and determination, Divinity is ready to continue uncovering history’s hidden stories — and writing her own.