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Karen Trujillo is one of USA TODAY’s Women of the Year, a recognition of women across the country who have made a significant impact. The annual program is a continuation of Women of the Century, a 2020 project that commemorated the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote. Meet this year’s honorees at womenoftheyear.usatoday.com.
Karen Trujillo accomplished many things in her professional career, dedicating her life to becoming an educator and encouraging others to do so.
In the last two years of her life, Karen served as Las Cruces Public Schools’ superintendent, rebuilding the district after a cybersecurity attack and facing the COVID-19 pandemic head-on, leading the district through a year of virtual learning. Before coming to LCPS, she served briefly as District 5 County Commissioner, then state Public Education Department secretary. She established Educators Rising in New Mexico and was interim associate dean for research in New Mexico State University’s College of Education. She also taught math in her early career.
Karen tragically passed away the evening of Feb. 25, 2021, after a car struck her while she was walking her two dogs. Her loss continues to be felt by the state of New Mexico, especially by those in the education sector.
She was selected as the New Mexico honoree for USA TODAY’s Women of the Year because of her dedication to keep students, staff and the district as a whole afloat throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Karen’s husband, Ben, 56, and two daughters, Taralyn, 26, and Tavyn, 20, spoke for her. Their son Timothy, 22, lives in Santa Fe and was unable to join.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Miranda Cyr/Sun-News
Ben: I don’t know about paving the way but I think her entire family. Her mom’s a teacher. She has four aunts that were teachers. Both of her parents earned degrees from New Mexico State. It was kind of always a foregone conclusion that you were going to go to college and not necessarily what you were going to do, but I just think the expectation was there without being said.
Dr. Karen Trujillo: New Mexico honoree of USA TODAY’s Women of the Year
Karen Trujillo was selected as New Mexico’s honoree of USA TODAY’s Women of the Year for her work in education and efforts to keep students learning through the pandemic.
Miranda Cyr, Las Cruces Sun-News
Ben: For me, I’ve coached since I’ve known her. Besides being a State Farm agent, I coach basketball. My players will tell you she knew more about them and their aspirations in terms of after high school. She always had those conversations with them (Karen’s children), with their friends, with whomever.
Tavyn: Anywhere she could get her voice heard.
Ben: “I coached at Cobre High School, which is a smaller school. Socioeconomically, not a lot of money. Kids would see college like ‘you can’t do that.’ She was always just encouraging them.”
While in Cobre, Karen started Graduation, Reality & Dual-Role Skills at the school, a program intended for young parents and their children in high school. One young couple in her program still keep in contact with the Trujillos today.
Ben: They’re still married. They live in Arkansas, and he will tell you what an impact she had. I’d like to say, that’s not a one-off. There’s so many things that I didn’t even know. People come up and say ‘She did this or that for me.’ It sometimes makes me question how well I knew her.
Ben: I remember she went and did a presentation and she called me – I was out looking for houses in Santa Fe at the time, she was secretary of ed – so I dropped her off. Afterwards, when I picked her up, I said ‘Well how did it go on?’ She goes, ‘Oh, it went good.’ She said, ‘Yeah, I did it in Spanish.’ I said ‘You what?’ Because I’m always correcting her Spanish. To me, that’s one of the qualities that if you can instill in a child – no fear of failure or being willing to try stuff and knowing on the front end – not like thinking I can do this – but knowing on the front end, you’re gonna butcher it and it’s OK. That’s the way you get better.
Ben, Taralyn and Tavyn all agreed that being chosen for the state office was a clear proud moment, but there were many small moments that made an impact.
Courtesy photo
Ben: Obviously, being let go as secretary of ed. I think for educators around New Mexico, they were really happy that she became the secretary of ed. Especially because she was out at least four days a week in schools all over the state, all over. And yet somehow found a way to make it to her (Tavyn’s basketball) games.
Karen was let go as secretary of education in July of 2019, after about six months on the job. She joined LCPS as interim superintendent shortly after.
Tavyn: She was present in everything she did. There was no hiding behind anything. She was always just her.
Taralyn: When it came to education too, she always said, ‘Do what’s best for the kids.’ I think that was like a huge thing that she did, because she always advocated for them. Whether it made her enemies or not, she made sure that what she was doing was for the kid and she got it no matter what she had to do.
Ben: I think it takes a lot of courage to step into any of the roles she chose to step into, like running for county commissioner. That’s a very visible, you know. You’re going to be known. Every decision you make is critiqued. Obviously, I remember her becoming the secretary of ed, and even the superintendent here. It takes courage to do that. I remember when COVID-19 hit here, and we’d laugh about this. But they’d have Zoom meetings with their team. I was over here and I was listening. I said, ‘I’m glad you guys are discussing all that, but whatever decision you make, it’s going to be wrong for 50% of people.’
Ben: A mantra that she would tell people all the time was ‘bloom where you’re planted.’ That idea of quit worrying about where you could be, should be, and just bloom and shine where you’re at in the moment.
She believed in people, especially young people. Even a lot of times before they believed in themselves, but she kind of fostered that. ‘You can do this.’
Tavyn: I think she was just really good at talking you down off the mountain. A big thing me and her would talk about most is not to worry about everything being perfect.
Nathan J Fish/Sun-News
Ben: I was speaking at an Educators Rising zoom thing last year. Before I had thought about it, I was talking a little bit about Karen. At the end, I was like, ‘So just go out and be a Karen.’ Karen was very frustrated with the narrative around education and how negative it was. She did the research on what a teacher shortage we’re having and, and started Educators Rising, because of the negativity around education. My thought was, with the negativity around being a Karen… we’re trying to change the narrative around (that too).”
Ben: O.D. Hadfield was a professor she had at the (New Mexico State University) university. He was the chair of her Ph.D. program. Good personal friends.
Then, just from afar, Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Algernon D’Ammassa/Sun-News
Taralyn: She kept looking forward. I think she dealt with quite a bit at NMSU to try to start different things and people telling her she couldn’t.
Ben: If you’re married for 30 years, you get to vent to each other, you know, and I learned after about 29 years, she didn’t need help fixing it. She just needed to vent.
Taralyn: “She’d pick a new thing she would do each year. One year, she’s like, ‘I’m gonna write a book.’ Then one year, she was like, ‘OK, I’m going to read for 30 days, I’m going to read a Bible verse and write a reflection and put it in a book.’ And she did that. So this last year, it was painting… I think she went back into that and would kind of be like, OK, ‘I’m good now’ and move on to the next thing and figure out what she needed to accomplish.
Ben: With the guiding the community she was front and center with the district. When they started giving the vaccinations, she did it before it was a thing, they didn’t know any different. So she called the hospital directly like, ‘Hey, how do we get our educators in there?’
Taralyn: For the pandemic, it made her slow down a lot too. Because she was always going, going, going. I think all of us really as a whole were like ‘OK, so we have this we’re dealing with. Appreciate what you have in front of you.’ That’s probably the most time we all spend together in years.
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