{"id":16072,"date":"2025-10-18T04:22:42","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T04:22:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/are-turning-point-usa-chapters-headed-to-farmington-schools\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:53:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:53:30","slug":"are-turning-point-usa-chapters-headed-to-farmington-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/are-turning-point-usa-chapters-headed-to-farmington-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Turning Point USA chapters headed to Farmington schools?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Since
Since the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, a billboard on U.S. Highway 64 has displayed the saying, \u2018We Are Charlie Kirk\u2019 with a scripture. (Alx Lee\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>Alx Lee<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In the weeks after the death of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10, the nonprofit reported<\/a> more than 120,000 students expressing interest in launching new high school and college chapters.<\/p>\n

Farmington High School might be among them.<\/p>\n

Vanessa Yates, a community member who has contacted Turning Point, said she has received hundreds of messages from people wanting to be involved with the movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe chapter we started was for Farmington High School, which is in the process of being formed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Tri-City Record attempted to contact the district to confirm the student organization but did not receive a response.<\/p>\n

The FMS Parent-Student Handbook outlines athletics and activities as having the greatest value when developed and encouraged through participation by the student body, interested community members and school staff.<\/p>\n

According to Yates, the Turning Point chapter has an adviser and interest from a school board member.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudent activities at school are a vital part of the total educational program and should be used as a means for developing wholesome attitudes and good human relations, as well as knowledge and skills,\u201d the handbook says under the activities section. \u201cThe Board of Education believes that school citizenship, as reflected in student activities, is a measure of the achievement of important school goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the nonprofit\u2019s website<\/a>, New Mexico has seven Turning Point chapters at high schools and colleges, including Grants High School, La Cueva High School, the University of New Mexico and Eastern New Mexico University.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith a presence on over 3,500 college and high school campuses, students are encouraged to be leaders in their communities and educate others on American ideals in a fun and compelling way,\u201d the website says.<\/p>\n

Yates said people in San Juan County who share Kirk\u2019s beliefs have come out strongly in support of continuing the movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis includes having peaceful debates, understanding other\u2019s perspectives, teaching about Jesus Christ without fear of repercussion, and advocating for freedom of speech,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not about red or blue, but about right vs. wrong and coming together to agree to disagree. You should be able to have different opinions, talk about them, and still be able to live in the same community without violence over them.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Juan County supporters of Kirk held a candlelight vigil on his birthday, Oct. 14, at the San Juan County Sheriff\u2019s Posse Rodeo Grounds. A billboard reading \u201cWe Are Charlie Kirk\u201d is also visible on U.S. Highway 64.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

National organization focuses on promoting freedom loving, American values<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1240,1222,155,799,28,1241,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-16072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-aztec","tag-bloomfield","tag-education","tag-farmington","tag-headlines","tag-kirtland","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16072"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20000,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16072\/revisions\/20000"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16072"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=16072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}