Mark Armijo Academy
Grants Awarded
Through outdoor and environmental learning activities, this program enhances academic performance and promotes the health and wellbeing of Mark Armijo Academy (MAA) students. By engaging students in projects like Backyard School Gardening, birding workshops, and outdoor yoga, participants will develop important life skills, strengthen community connections, and learn strategies to manage stress and mental health challenges. Ultimately, the initiative fosters a collaborative and creative learning environment while deepening students' relationship with nature and their school community.
Mark Armijo Academy's (MAA) Outdoor Equity Project, Get Teens Outside, aims to engage underserved youth in outdoor activities, fostering an appreciation for nature and promoting potential career pathways related to the outdoors. By partnering with the community, MAA will provide hands-on, culturally relevant outdoor education that encourages participants to become more active and connected to their natural environment.
The Mark Armijo Academy Students Thrive Outside program is an initiative by the Outdoor Equity Fund that gives disenfranchised Latino and Native American students access to New Mexico's outdoors and potential career paths in conservation and STEM. Developing partnerships with Cottonwood Gulch and Nature Niños, students will engage in activities such as camping, hiking, classroom, and field learning, focusing on local cultural heritage and conservation. Moreover, the project intertwines academic education with outdoor experiences while exploring career opportunities. It provides ongoing outdoor learning for local feeder schools, promotes leadership through high school mentorship, and broadens access to outdoor activities by addressing identified barriers. Cottonwood Gulch's role offers in-depth exploration of outdoor living, conservation efforts, and New Mexico’s ecology. This comprehensive, culturally sensitive approach encourages students to get involved with the outdoors, fosters stewardship, and hones leadership skills among MAA youth.
Founded over twenty years ago, Mark Armijo Academy’s (MAA) mission is to provide a quality and relevant education in a community that promotes caring and belonging for all students, especially those who seek a more personal and innovative educational setting. MAA is a 9th – 12th grade public charter high school serving 206 students who above 90% qualify for free and reduced lunch and over 90% are of Hispanic/Latino backgrounds. MAA successful completed a Youth Conservation Corps partnership over the course of the past 12-months and will apply to become a YCC site and integrate Outdoor Equity Funding and YCC to create access to the outdoors for our students and community. A high percentage of youth have had a limited experience in the outdoors, how MAA has been building a comprehensive outdoor education strategy integrating multiple funding streams and operating under the MAA Community Schools Initiative.