Read the full article from State Education Standard here.
“At Peñasco High School in rural Northern New Mexico, a gleaming culinary arts classroom sports new stainless-steel countertops and appliances. Outside, students bake bread, cookies, and slow-roasted sweet corn kernels, or chicos, in an outdoor earth oven—a classic horno—in the culinary tradition of Ancestral Puebloan culture. Nearby, woodshop students build chairs and side tables with Spanish colonial design elements. The teacher, a graduate of Peñasco High and longtime college instructor, is a well-known local furniture maker and folk artist.
Serving about 270 K-12 students, Peñasco Independent School District became a community school district in 2021–22, with support from a state-funded grant program and other education and philanthropic sources. Peñasco employs a community school coordinator, offers project-based learning and robust afterschool programming, hosts community events like a winter light parade, and supports student wellness through a school-based health center, behavioral health partnerships, and a new wellness room at the high school.”