Sonja Brown, a Most
Valuable
New Mexico Resource
confidence and eating the yummy chocolate chip pancakes
she made, he feels better about playing in his first big
football game. The book highlights a game between the
Albuquerque Highland Hornets and Rio Grande Ravens
Peewee Football League. Originally published in 2011,
the book can be purchased from Barnes and Noble as
well as several online stores.
Anwi Fomukong
Harnessing Star Power
Continued from page 20
for heroism in the Korean War by President Dwight D.
Eisenhower in 1953. Murphy has been awarded the Silver
Star Medal, Purple Heart Medal, and the Korean Service
Medal with two bronze stars. After his death in 2007,
U.S. Senators Pete Domenici, R-N.M. and Jeff Bingaman,
D-N.M. put forth a bill to rename the Albuquerque VA
Medical Center to the Raymond G. Murphy Department
of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The bill was passed
by both houses of Congress and signed by President Bush
on July 5, 2007.” Unfortunately there was no funding
allocated for the installation.
Ever the consummate problem solver, Brown
reached out to a big fan of Mr. Murphy’s to ask for
support, Mr. Ross Perot. Initially the gatekeepers in
Perot’s camp were not receptive to allowing access to
the former Republican presidential candidate. With
unrelenting resolve, Brown persisted until Mr. Perot
one day returned her call. “Not only did Mr. Perot pay
for the entire installation, he was very decisive about
his vision for the statue. Mr. Perot took a very hands-on
approach. He met several times with Brown and local
artist Sonny Rivera, who was commissioned to create
the statue. “After several revisions Mr. Perot gave his
nod of approval.” Hundreds of attendees attended the
dedication and unveiling of the statue of Murphy.
With only 24 hours in a day, Ms. Brown has
achieved some remarkable professional accomplishments.
In addition to being passionate about her service to the
Veterans Administration and the local Albuquerque
community, she is also a dedicated mother and a published
author. Her book is titled: David Lawrence and His
Game Day Chocolate Chip Pancakes. The book is
about David Lawrence, who is nervous about playing
in his first Pee Wee football game and decides he does
not want to play. He is afraid of making mistakes
and losing the game. After a talk with his mom about
Continued from page 16
annually that have united the students and community.
Key Club is an organization where she volunteers
at various activities and places in Rio Rancho. During
the first semester, they volunteered at the McDonald’s
Thanksgiving lunch where Anwi served people who were
homeless or couldn’t afford to prepare a Thanksgiving
meal.
Anwi is also involved in many extracurricular
activities like the National Society of Black Engineers
(NSBE), She attends the convention under the Saturday
Science and Math Academy (SSMA). Anwi has also
taken four years of piano lessons and now creates her
own songs that are mainly performed in church. She has
been a part of the Hand Bell Choir at the Rio Rancho
Presbyterian Church for four years.
33
Statewide Focus Magazine