NMT Student Suffers Minor Injuries in Hailstorm

by Valerie Kimble

SOCORRO, N.M., Oct. 7, 2004 -- Nicholas Sanchez of Socorro was caught in the hail storm that inundated the New Mexico Tech campus Tuesday afternoon.

Sanchez, a 2004 Socorro High School graduate now attending Tech as a freshman in computer science, was walking toward the Fine Arts complex near the golf course when he was hit by three hail balls – “but only one made me bleed,” he said.

He quickly sought shelter in Jones Hall and credited chemistry professor Tanja Pietrass and a woman whose name he didn’t remember for quickly rendering aid.

Campus Police were alerted, and an ambulance transported Sanchez to Socorro General Hospital where he received five stitches for a cut on his head and was released.

“Basically I was mildly confused,” said Sanchez. “I’m really glad nothing worse happened.”

When asked if he considered the storm unusual, Sanchez replied: “Hail in Socorro normally doesn’t act like that!”

-NMT-