SUBWAY FEATURED STUDENT: SHANE BARNWELL, CAPITAN HIGH SCHOOL

For Shane Barnwell of Capitan, the title of his life story would be “A long, hard journey.”  Barnwell says he’s had more ups than downs in his life, but the downs were pretty big.

In the summer of 2012, one of the most destructive wildfires in New Mexico’s history came blazing through his town.  The Little Bear Fire burned over 44,000 acres and 254 buildings and his house was one of them.

“I was actually playing a Little League baseball game and I was like ‘Hey mom, that fire is getting close to our house.’  We didn’t get to get that much out of the house.  We, of course, got our dog and pictures.”  His family lost their home.

“A guy who we call God, he wants to go by ‘Anonymous’, he paid for a lot of houses here and we were lucky enough to be one of them.  We call it our blessing house.”

One message Shane took away from the tragedy is that some stuff isn’t as important as it seems.  “We can live without some objects.”

Shane is a three-sport athlete at Capitan. He competes in football, basketball and track.

“I’ve been playing football since I can remember.  The little league games were just as intense as our high school games, I kid you not.” Football is definitely his favorite sport and he has the size for it.  The senior is 6’4” and 310 pounds.

“I just love the game and the tradition we have at our school.”

He says winning the state football championship in 2016 was the most memorable moment of his career. “It was the best feeling in my life. The fans are awesome, the community of this town is like your second family.  It’s great.”

He hopes to play football in college and pursue a degree in broadcast journalism or business.