BERNALILLO COUNTY, N.M. (KRQE) — A top-ranked charter school is getting ready to grow by adding a middle school to its campus. East Mountain High Charter in Sandia Park said the new facility will fill a need in the area.
Starting next year, East Mountain High School will begin work on a middle school building. Right now, freshmen are coming from nearly 30 different middle schools.
Trey Smith, the executive director of East Mountain Schools, said, “A lot of folks are moving to this part of the mountains as well, so we’re just kind of filling that need and closing that gap for the families in the area.”
State data shows East Mountain High had the highest literacy and the third-highest math growth in New Mexico. The school focuses on fostering teacher-student relationships and encourages active learning. “You’re not going to see lectures or mindless worksheets in our classes,” said Smith. “Students are up around the room, moving. We also have leadership and enrichment experiences that are extremely important to our model.”
Like the high school, the middle school will have programs in athletics, performing arts, robotics, and more.
Miller Millea, an EMHS senior who welcomes the incoming freshman class every year. “We want students to find their niches and their moments where they can shine,” said Millea. “I feel like that’s something that our school likes to foster is that kind of individuality. We feel that students are very unique in many ways, and we want them to find an outlet for themselves to show how they’re unique.”
Millea is a part of the recording arts program at EMH, and said it’s a great opportunity for aspiring musicians and creatives. Every year, a team of students releases a self-written and self-produced album.
Besides music, his favorite class at the moment is government. “[The class] really gives students a ground-level on how they should think about politics and definitely local government,” said Millea. “We find that to be really important in a rural area, kind of out here at East Mountain High School. There’s a lot of change you can make in a small community.”
Millea plans to attend college and study leadership, especially charter leadership. “I want to go into education policy, where I can kind of fight and lobby for legislation that works to benefit all education because I think students need access to high-quality education.” Millea said EMHS played a major part in shaping his passions and leadership abilities.
On the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) side of the spectrum, EMH already has a robotics team that hosts days where they build battle bots with local fourth graders.
“We’re introducing project-based engineering at an age where it really matter, because if they find their spark in STEM, then they can be learning and growing throughout all of middle school and high school,” said Andy Proctor, an EMHS Senior.
Proctor hopes to see middle schoolers involved in the STEM outreach program as well. “So the idea of: what if we could introduce leadership and introduce a culture that allows them to give back even as middle schoolers would be really cool to see.”
Proctor plans to attend the University of New Mexico and study electrical engineering. He also credits EMHS to being a major part of his journey. “I love East Mountain for a lot of reasons, I think the biggest being: student empowerment,” said Proctor. “The message at East Mountain is ‘We see you. We believe in you and what you can become. And I think that’s such an important and often missed thing in education.”
The first class will include 90 middle schoolers in a modular building. By next year, the new facility will open next to the high school, with room for about 200 students.
Smith said it’s a benefit that the middle schoolers will be able to interact with the high schoolers when appropriate. “Middle school is such a tough age group where they’re caught in the middle there. And we think if the 6–8 graders are actually in the same environment as older students, they’re going to get some better role modeling experiences and peer mentorship.”
East Mountain is tuition-free and open to students from anywhere. However, enrollment is decided by lottery, and applications for the new middle school close Friday. If you miss the deadline, the school said it is still worth applying because spots could open up later.
