Albuquerque Academy

Albuquerque Academy was founded in 1955 as The Academy for Boys in the basement of a small Albuquerque church by William B. S. Wilburn. The school was eventually moved into a facility that is today used by Sandia Preparatory School. In 1965, the school moved to its current site in northeast Albuquerque.[3]

Between 1957 and 1964, the Academy received a large tract of undeveloped land north of Albuquerque, part of the Elena Gallegos Land Grant,[4] from the Albert G. Simms family. The western portion (from Wyoming Boulevard to the Rio Grande) was sold to finance the creation of the current campus and the first endowment fund, and the present campus was created in the middle of the tract. The land east of the campus, reaching to the crest of the Sandia Mountains, was sold later in a series of deals. First the section from the campus to Juan Tabo Boulevard was sold to create a second trust. Later, the City of Albuquerque attempted to facilitate a deal to sell the remainder to the Bureau of Land Management by putting up a parking garage as collateral. The deal fell through and the Academy became the garage owner while still retaining the area.

In July 1982, the city purchased most of the land in a complex deal with the Academy and the US Forest Service. The City paid the Academy $23.9 million, raised by a bond issue supported by a temporary ¼ percent sales tax.[5] The City retained part of the land, which is now the 640-acre (260 ha) Elena Gallegos Picnic Area/Albert G. Simms Park, located at the feet of the Sandias at the mouths of Bear and Pino Canyons. The 7,000-acre (2,800 ha) plus remainder of the purchase, most of it forest land in the canyons proper, was sold to the Forest Service, and is now part of the Cibola National Forest and the Sandia Mountain Wilderness.[6] The Academy retained two parts of the tract, the larger adjoining Tramway Boulevard. The school set up the High Desert Investment Corporation (HDIC) to develop this portion as the master-planned community known as High Desert. (The smaller portion, within Bear Canyon itself, is still used by the Academy for experiential education purposes.) HDIC then purchased a large tract of land in the northern section of Rio Rancho, developed as Mariposa.[7] The proceeds from the land sales and from HDIC have provided the Academy with a substantial endowment, which is used partly to defray tuition expenses and to subsidize a significant need-based financial aid program. HDIC has since been dissolved.

The school remained an all-boys school, with grades five through 12, until 1973, at which time girls were allowed into grades nine through 12. Part of the reason for the delay in allowing girls and for the gradual inclusion was that the Simms grant specified that the number of boys not decrease in order to make room for girls. The fifth grade was dropped in 1979, and the school became fully coeducational in 1984.

Today, the Academy has an enrollment of just over 1,100 in grades 6 through 12, with students drawn from throughout the Albuquerque metropolitan area and the state of New Mexico. Albuquerque Academy celebrated its 50th anniversary during the 2004–2005 school year with a year-long celebration of the school's history. Most recently, the 60th anniversary of the school was celebrated during the 2014–15 school year by gathering all of the students on to the football field and creating a large 60 which was photographed and displayed around campus.

The school sits on an approximately 312-acre (1.5 km²) gated campus in the northeastern part of the city. It is divided into two campuses, the West Campus and the East Campus. The two campuses are separated by about a quarter of a mile, with the library, science building, and athletic fields in between. The school buildings conform to a consistent Mediterranean-influenced architectural style, which incorporates brick buildings, arches, and tile roofs.

Simms Library

Simms Library

The Dr. Albert G. Simms II and Barbara Young Simms Library (almost always shortened to "Simms Library") is the Academy's most iconic building, housing the school's collection of more than 140,000 books, periodicals, videos, and recordings. It has two wings that open onto a central lobby, with the fiction/nonfiction section housed in the larger north wing and reference materials in the east wing. The Library was designed by Alexander "Sandy" Howe of the Boston firm of Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson and Abbott and opened in 1991 along with the Science Building. The Library spire is the highest point on campus.

The school is roughly half boys and half girls, and more than one half of the students self-identify as students of color or multicultural. The Academy also ranks among the top independent secondary schools with regard to need-based financial aid offered to students, totaling nearly one-quarter of the student body and $4.6 million.[8]

Albuquerque Academy prides itself on its 8:1 student/teacher ratio.[9]

Twenty-five members of the Class of 2019 were recognized as National Merit Semifinalists, and the class earned an average ACT score of 30.1, nearly ten points above the national average. Individual honors for the senior class included a U.S. Presidential Scholarship Semifinalist and a perfect score on the Level IV/V National Latin Exam.

The board of trustees sets tuition for each school year. While the current cost per student stands at approximately $35,000 per year, the endowment allows for a tuition cost of $24,795 including lunch fees. Book expenses range average $250-$500 per year depending on grade level. Financial aid is awarded based on a family's demonstrated need and the student's strengths relative to the applicant's class. In spring of 2018 a group of parents petitioned the school for an audit of the schools finances, citing the school allegedly squandering 42 million dollars between 2011 and 2016, nearly a third of the school's endowment. The parents cited a concern for students who attend the school by virtue of need based financial aid.[10]

Extracurricular activities are an important part of the Academy experience. Some of the larger activities include many state championship sports teams, The Advocate (a student newsmagazine that has received numerous awards from the Albuquerque Tribune and the New Mexico Press Women), Science Olympiad, Science Bowl, and theater. The Academy's performance of The Phantom of the Opera was recognized as Best Production at the 2019 New Mexico High School Musical Theatre Enchantment Awards. Student government is controlled by the 10-12 Student Senate. Headed by the student body president and 12 voting members, the senate oversees a wide variety of topics, including student clubs and general school policy.

The Academy sponsors a guitar quartet, an outgrowth of its guitar program, which is prominent in the local music community.

The four longest sports state championship streaks by Academy sports teams are the six-peat boys basketball team (1989–1994) led by Coach Mike Brown, the 17-time[11] defending state champion boys tennis team (2003–present), the six-time state champion boys swim team (2006-2011), and the six-time state champion boys track team (2002–2007) led by Coach Adam Kedge. Coach Kedge, a science teacher, has also led the boys cross country team to Nike Cross Nationals (formerly Nike Team Nationals) five times, most notably to a third-place finish in 2007 and a fifth-place finish in 2009. In 2018, for the second year in a row, he was named the New Mexico girls cross country coach of the year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Swim coach David Barney has led the swim teams to 40 combined titles (21 for the boys, 19 for the girls) and was inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame in 2015.

In 2018, girls soccer coach Peter Glidden '03 and boys soccer coach Laney Kolek were named United Soccer Coaches High School Region Coach of the Year.

The school's mock trial team won the 2012 National High School Mock Trial Championship in May 2012, marking the first time a New Mexican team had won the title, and the first time a team from the host state had won. In 2013, the team won the national championship again, which was only the third time in tournament history that a school won twice in a row. The program has qualified at least one team for state competition every year since the program was rebooted in 2005. The 2012 national champion team was the second Academy team in a row to qualify for nationals. In 2019, Academy's mock trial team placed sixth at the National High School Mock Trial Championship.[12]

In May 2010, the school's team won the US DOE Middle School Science Bowl competition in Washington, DC.[13][14] Previous Academy Science Bowl teams had finished second (in 2006) and fourth (in 2009). The middle school science bowl team most recently represented New Mexico at nationals in 2019.

Speech and Debate is offered as an extracurricular activity at Albuquerque Academy. At the 2009 State Speech and Debate Tournament, Albuquerque Academy had five state champions, as well as winning Speech Sweepstakes, Debate Sweepstakes, and Debate Coach of the Year (Susan Ontiveros). The Speech and Debate team had held the state title for 24 straight years by 2010 (taking Speech Sweepstakes, Debate Sweepstakes, and having many state champions.) At the 2014 New Mexico State Speech and Debate Tournament, the Albuquerque Academy Speech and Debate team reclaimed the title by winning the Speech Sweepstakes, Debate Sweepstakes, and having seven state champions. In 2019, 16 members of the team qualified for nationals, and the Academy was named Overall School of Excellence.

In the spring of 2006, the orchestra, called the Chamber Players, was invited to attend the National Orchestra Festival in Kansas City, Missouri, where they received a superior rating.

In addition to these optional extracurricular activities, all students at the Academy spend the final five weeks of their senior year doing a "senior project." They can do an internship with a business or organization from the community or abroad, take one of several seminars offered by faculty, or pursue an independent project they create around an area of interest. In the first four-and-a-half weeks, students are immersed in their projects; the remaining few days are reserved for reflecting on projects with their peers and the broader Academy community.[15]

The Academy also offers a summer school program, which has a variety of classes including language, science, and art. The summer program usually runs from early June to mid-July, lasting six weeks (with a vacation for Independence Day). In addition to the academic offerings, the summer program includes a traditional summer camp and athletic and aquatic camps.

Alex Bregman

• Kyle Altman (born 1986), soccer player
• Anika Apostalon, professional swimmer
• Norman Bay, former US Attorney and current head of the FERC Office of Enforcement[28]
• Curtis Beach (born 1990), decathlete
• Notah Begay III, professional golfer
• James Borrego, Charlotte Hornets head coach
• Alex Bregman (born 1994), baseball player [29]
• R. Martin Chavez, investment banker[30]
• Brian Conrey, mathematician
• David Eagleman (born 1971), writer and neuroscientist
• Kate Gallego, mayor of Phoenix[31]
• Mira Jacob, novelist
• Grant Moise, publisher and president of the Dallas Morning News
• Joshua Cooper Ramo, journalist and businessman[32]
• Cody Toppert, basketball player and coach
• Chainey Umphrey, Olympic gymnast[33]

• Albuquerque Academy website
• Quick facts on the school