Monte del Sol is the only MESA school in Santa Fe. MESA stands for Mathematics, Engineering, Science and Achievement, and is a national program. Our MESA program supports students in three different science classes, and also includes a MESA Club for middle school students who are building robots as they learn about coding and robotics.
All incoming students take a math placement test and are placed in classes at their level, so if your middle school student scores higher than seventh or eighth grade, they can be placed in Algebra 1 with a high school math teacher and start earning high school math credit.
High School students begin with Algebra 1 and Geometry. Other math classes offered in high school are Algebra 2, Probability and Statistics, Financial Literacy, Pre-Calculus, and Calculus. Our math curriculum is supported with tutoring for students who are not at grade level or who have difficulty grasping the topics. One of the pillars of Monte is Arts Integration, and math teachers use art in their classes.
The science curriculum includes the following:
- Integrated science in middle school.
- Physics in ninth grade.
- Biology in tenth grade.
- Chemistry in eleventh or twelfth grade.
There are many additional enrichments offered in science. AP Biology and AP Environmental Science are offered every other year.
We partner with Santa Fe Community College to offer several dual-credit courses. Two sustainability and four Computer Science courses offered through SFCC can be taken here at Monte del Sol.
We partner with Santa Fe Community College to offer several dual credit courses. Two sustainability courses and four Computer Science courses that are offered through SFCC can be taken right here at Monte del Sol.
Our teams participate in
- The Supercomputing Challenge (past eight years)
- The Governor’s Stem Challenge, where we have won a showcase award every year we’ve participated
- Science Fair Project (2009-2015) and more recently in local Earth Day experiments and presentations
- NASA Techrise: One of our proposals was accepted and funded last year. The team completed and shipped their payload build, and it will launch in summer 2023
- City of Santa Fe Children’s Water Fiesta (our chemistry students served as presenters and docents for many years until it was suspended during the pandemic. We hope it will be reinstated soon.
Stem Department Courses
Algebra I, Math 8
Integrated Science 8, MESA
Math 7, Math 8
Geometry, Statistics, Financial Literacy
Sustainability, Integrated Science 7
Rhonda Crespo, Department Chair
Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science
Algebra II, Pre-Calculus
Physics, Wildlife Science, AP Environmental Science
Top photo credits: Boy with geometry squares and fibonacci sequence drawing on the sidewalk: Carla Evans.