RRHS Alumni Set the Bar Quite High

As appeard in the Albuquerque Journal Rio Rancho section August 07, 2010


For all of the students who are complaining that school is about to start next week and think it's a waste of time, I've got some good news for you.

For all the kids who have had Advanced Placement summer reading to get through and say the subject matter was boring and useless, it is understandable that you may not be able to see the forest through the trees right now. But all that hard work will pay off.

There are many students from Rio Rancho who have graduated and moved on to promising careers, like Ford Carty, a 2010 Rio Rancho High School graduate who is now at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

And Kara Babb, a 2005 RRHS graduate who got her bachelor's in 2009 in Global Business and Asian Studies and is in China now studying for her master's degree.

Is it the teachers, the classes or the individual kids that inspire success? A good guess would be it is a combination of all three, or so says Linda Babb, Kara's mom.

"Kara played varsity soccer at RRHS under Uwe Balzis," Linda Babb says. "She credits the AP English and History classes she took with preparing her for college work. It definitely helped her writing ability."

Sometimes the pieces just fall into place. Kara's interests were sparked by a professor's suggestion.

"Kara went to the University of Redlands in Southern California, not knowing, of course, what she's going to major in," says Kara's dad, Chip. "Come her second year, one of her professors recommended she take some classes in Global Business, which had a foreign language requirement, so she signs up for Mandarin — not easy."

When she was a junior, Kara spent seven months in Beijing studying at Peking University and doing an internship with a Chinese business development company.

Currently pursuing her master's degree in Asian language and literature from Ohio State University, Kara will be writing and defending her thesis in Mandarin. Now that's what I call impressive.

As if those credentials weren't enough, Kara just finished sixth out of 118 students worldwide in an "American Idol" style competition sponsored by the Chinese government and the Confucius Institute in China and the U.S.

I asked Linda Babb how her daughter liked living in China and if she was assimilating into the culture.

"Kara was always pretty outgoing," she tells me. "We never imagined she'd do this, but she constantly surprises us."

Besides her studies and work, there is always time for socializing and meeting the locals. "The people are very friendly and welcoming. In fact, if they invite you to their home for a meal, it becomes a banquet," says Linda Babb. "At one event, Kara was toasted about 10 times (after each course) and then was asked to sing 'The Star Spangled Banner' in front of everyone."

We knew Rio Rancho schools produced some extraordinary graduates; we just didn't know how far they would go.

Quote of the Week: "Kara ... you thought Spanish was hard!" — Chip Babb, Kara's proud dad.