Desert Academy

Desert Academy has served the Santa Fe community for 25 years. As the first accredited IB World School in Santa Fe,Desert Academy offers an academically challenging, socially engaged and culturally rich education. We consistently benchmark ourselves against international standards for school improvement through our accreditation by AdvancEd. a non-profit, non-partisan organization that conducts rigorous, on-site reviews of educational institutions and systems to ensure that all learners realize their full potential.

The school community is what makes Desert Academy unique. There is something truly special about Desert Academy, described as “Desertness” by faculty and students. Maybe it's the energy, enthusiasm, commitment, acceptance, and empathy of the students. It might be the way the faculty comes together to encourage risk-taking, innovation, and collaboration, celebratethe individual, and learn from everyone's experiences together. Maybe it's the incredible level of parent involvement and support. Most likely Desertness is a mix of it all, with strong relationships that extend beyond the traditional roles of school-sanctioned ties.

Desert Academy was founded in 1994 to provide a caring environment where students could thrive without the typical educational constrictions inherent in public education. The school was first located in Lamy, a small community about 15 miles south of Santa Fe. About 30 students took the train from downtown Santa Fe. In 2001, the school moved to Camino Alire, in the city of Santa Fe. During those years, the school earned a reputation for academic excellence and a nurturing, inclusive culture. The core values of open communication and of trust in the school’s administrative leaders have remained intact and enabled the school to thrive. As the school’s enrollment grew, Desert moved one final time in 2012 to26 acres on the historic Old Santa Fe Trail.

In 2008, Desert Academy adopted the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (grades 11-12) and in 2011 became the first high school in New Mexico to be authorized as an International Baccalaureate World School offering both the Middle Years Program (grades 6 – 10) and the Diploma Program. In recent years, 100 percent of our graduates go on to four-year colleges with an average of $20,000 in scholarships. In 2018, all of our IB diploma graduates were awarded their diploma with scores far above the international average. Currently, we are a school of 130 students, including international students. At present, over 50% of our population receives some form of tuition assistance, which helps us maintain a high level of diversity.

Our parents share the school’s commitment to collaboration, open lines of communication, mutual respect, and a common vision of the school’s goals to be reached. Our faculty and staff are highly educated and experts in their fields, helping students become passionate, serous scholars capable of effective communication, independent thought, meaningful collaboration, and original expression. They also reflect our commitment to global education and international-mindedness; former Peace Corps volunteers, faculty with extensive international teaching, or hailing from England, Denmark, France, Italy, China, Croatia, and Mexico. We offer French, Spanish and Mandarin. Our students travel to Arizona, California, Colorado, Texas and beyond, with our athletic and speech and debate teams and abroad with their language teachers or through the Leos Club. We are truly global citizens with Santa Fe hearts.

Desert Academy is dedicated to academic and personal excellence. We provide a quality college-preparatory education in a diverse school community, which values individuality, builds character, promotes self-confidence, and fosters global understanding.

Desert Academy’s emphasis on concurrent study of language, literature, humanities, science, mathematics, physical education, and the arts provides continuity of scholarship and cultivates critical thinking skills. Through experiential learning, discussion, investigation, independent research, and writing across the curriculum, students gain competence that will sustain a lifetime of learning. Students are encouraged to acknowledge their responsibility to themselves, their classmates, and the global community. Learning at Desert is not a means to an end, but rather, a bridge to further engagement with the world at large, and as a result, a more meaningful, thoughtful life.

Desert Academy at Santa Fe is a diverse community that believes successful education develops basic human values such as respect and integrity. Our curriculum, advisory programs, and school activities embrace differences in gender, race, ethnicity, socio-economic group, sexual identity and orientation, and religious affiliation. We affirm that varying perspectives enrich the life of our school community and the world around us.

We strongly believe that academics must not be confined to the classroom and there are many opportunities for students to extend student learning outside the classroom. Our students attend different field trips in order to prompt interest in topics and consolidate learning. Clubs, too, allow students to forge new interests, as do after-school activities. These activities allow our students to gain an understanding of what it means to live a balanced life, which equals personal well-being according to the IB. In this age of the smart phone, video game, packaged food, and immense competition, activities outside of the classroom act as a counterbalance. So, we strive to foster balanced lifestyles.