76th NMASC State Conference Kicks Off with Raucous Session in Los Lunas

Hallways outside Los Lunas High School pulsed with music and chatter before attendees reached the gym for the New Mexico Association of Student Councils’ 76th annual state conference, which kicked off with a raucous general session Thursday night. More than 2,000 students and adults were on site for the three-day event hosted at Los Lunas High, 1776 Emilio Lopez Rd., February 12 through February 14.

Entering the gym, students were greeted by the jaunty Mexicano sounds of Los Perdidos del Llano, a band made up of Los Lunas High and Century High students. Hundreds of student council members danced and stood on their feet as the performance set the tone for the evening, and the opening ceremony began with the presentation of colors by the Los Lunas HS U.S. Army JROTC Color Guard.

Organizing the local effort fell largely to Los Lunas High School students and staff. The school mobilized more than 100 LLHS students to prepare and host the convention, with student coordinators Halie Delgado, Payton Lipschultz, and Natalia Galindo leading the work under student council sponsors Christopher Garcia and Andrea Tenorio. The scale of the mobilization reflected the conference’s size and logistical needs for a convention drawing delegations from across the state.

Local officials and school leaders addressed the energized crowd during the general session. Los Lunas Board of Education President Frank Otero spoke to attendees, as did LLS Superintendent Susan B. Chavez, who returned to the LLHS gymnasium in the role of superintendent after having been a student council leader at the school years earlier.

NMASC’s event branding, "The Leadership Force Awakens", framed workshops, breakout sessions, and competitive programming scheduled through the weekend. The New Mexico Association of Student Councils is affiliated with the New Mexico Activities Association (NMAA) and is recognized by the National Association of Student Councils; the organization’s site lists corporate partners including ADI Productions, Campus Specialties / Herff Jones, and Dynamx Digital, LLC among others supporting the 2026 conference.

Practical details on the NMASC event page showed calendar integration options for attendees, including iCal and GoogleCal links, and noted that online pre-registration opened November 1, 2025 for the 2026 cycle. For Los Lunas High, hosting the convention delivered an intensive, visible outcome: more than 100 students logged leadership and event-management experience while the school staged a statewide gathering of youth leaders that filled classrooms, hallways, and the gymnasium for three days.