About Santa Fe

Advanced Placement (AP) Courses are designed to prepare students for the rigor of college coursework. AP is in place to support and help accelerate student critical thinking, analysis, reading, and writing skills. Currently, Capital offers AP courses in English Language and Composition, English Literature and Composition, World History, U.S. History, U.S. Government/Economics, Biology, Spanish Language, and Spanish Literature.

Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) is designed to support a college going culture at Capital High. Students learn study skills including Writing-Inquiry-Collaboration-Reading (WICR), Interactive Notebooks, and Cornell Notes. Students also participate in leadership initiatives and activities designed to support college eligibility. Capital High has been named the 118th AVID National Demonstration School out of 4500 participating school worldwide, and the first school in New Mexico to achieve this status.

Athletics and Activities promote positive youth involvement in the school community. Capital offers Football, Boys and Girls Soccer, Softball, Baseball, Cheer, Wrestling, Volleyball, Swimming & Diving, Boys and Girls Basketball, Golf, Cross Country, Track & Field, Tennis, National Honor Society, Student Government, Student Council, Junior Medical Reserve Corp, Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA), Student Wellness Action Team (SWAT), Model Legislature, Supercomputing Challenge, Habitat for Humanity, Chess Club, Jag Newspaper/Yearbook, and Interact Club.

Bilingual Programming at Capital High offers bilingual maintenance and enrichment programs for students learning English. ESL and Spanish for Native Speakers courses directly support students in bilingual proficiency as well as academic achievement in other coursework and assessments. Capital High currently has six teachers serving over 250 students in this program.

College and Career Center assists students in preparing for work in high school and beyond as well as college readiness, scholarships, and academic support. Capital High also offers Dual Credit in various subject areas to students by the Santa Fe Community College. Dual credit allows opportunities for students to accelerate their learning in alignment with career goals.

Senior Seminar is provided to seniors who need additional academic support in order to meet acceptable levels of proficiency on ACT for college entrance requirements. Capital required elective Freshman Seminar for all freshmen who are not already enrolled in AVID. The curriculum includes AVID study skills, Career Choices, ASCA counseling support, employability skills, content recovery, service learning, as well as the use of student data folders and student facilitated tutorials to support success and achievement throughout the high school experience.

Houses and Career Academies supporting Capital High’s redesign efforts are focused on improving student achievement by implementing a schools-within-a-school model. Based on the continuous cycle of improve- ment, teachers meet daily in collaborative learning communities to develop engaging and relevant instructional activities centered on student interests in career pathways. Learning strategies such as Answer-Cite-Explain are built in school wide, and Capital’s seven-period modified schedule allows students greater access to engaging elective coursework as well as more opportunities to earn credit throughout their high school experience.

Career Academy Capstone Mentorships provides students the opportunity to get to know a mentoring professional each week to discuss topics related to the mentor’s particular field of experience to help students refine career interests and related skills.

New Mexico Gear-Up sponsors programs and activities designed to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education. The activities include student recognitions, motivational speakers, college visits, parent nights, hands-on project-based learning experiences, summer leadership camps, self-empowerment student groups and much more. Gear-Up has also provided full scholarships for credit recovery after school and summer school for students to earn credits they have lost.

Teen Court is run for teens by teens. Teen Court offers services that keep teens out of Children’s Court and out of the Youth Detention Center and can save lives. There are also Teen Attorneys who volunteer their time to work at Teen Court.

Teen Health Center provides confidential mental health services including family and substance abuse counseling.