Albuquerque Public Schools
Delivering Excellence
In her weekly message, Superintendent Blakey recognizes many of the amazing accomplishments students have achieved so far this semester.
Our students are demonstrating the traits of our Profile of a Graduate every day, not just in classrooms, but on the ball fields, debate stages and convention floors across the state. I want to celebrate their amazing achievements this semester and thank all of our coaches, sponsors and the many APS staffers going out of their way to provide these diverse and enriching opportunities.
Three of our elementary schools–Zia, MacArthur and Hawthorne–won top prizes in the Destination Imagination state tournament, which honors students for creativity, teamwork and problem-solving. A Zia Elementary School team won first-place in the Technical and Service Challenges, while MacArthur Elementary’s team won first in the Fine Arts Challenge. A team from Hawthorne Elementary won a special honor for technical proficiency, while another Zia team received a special award for generosity of spirit.
Eisenhower Middle School won the state concert band championship in the middle school division, while La Cueva senior Hadas Frish was named the New Mexico Poetry Out Loud state champion.
This amazing work is happening in every corner of our district.
A 10th grader at our Juvenile Detention Center school recently won first place in the BreakFree March Madness Dream Team Contest for his basketball essay and jersey design. Judges praised his creative and analytical thinking and called his design “visually stunning.”
More than 40 APS students from Atrisco Heritage Academy, Career Enrichment Center, and Del Norte, Eldorado, Manzano and West Mesa high schools earned top honors and national qualifying scores at the Educators Rising New Mexico State Conference.
And during the DECA state conference last month, APS students took first place in 30 of 55 categories, including business growth plan, finance operations research, financial consulting and even start-up business plan. Among the high schools with students placing first were Albuquerque High, Eldorado, La Cueva, Sandia and Volcano Vista.
Ten students from Highland and Volcano Vista high schools took gold in the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America state conference in various categories, including food innovations and pastry arts.
At least four La Cueva students took first place in their respective speech and debate state competitions, solidifying their school’s status as a 2026 State Speech and Debate Overall School of Excellence. La Cueva also did well in the New Mexico English Expo with three of its students taking first place in their respective categories, including short story-teen life.
Greg Brown and the Volcano Vista boys’ basketball team made history this year by winning their fifth consecutive Class 5A state championship in March. Any athlete and coach can tell you that winning a state championship is a lot of hard work. Winning five consecutive state titles is a whole other level and the definition of perseverance.
The Highland High School boys’ basketball team walked away with the Class 4A state title, while La Cueva High School’s cheerleaders earned a second consecutive 5A state spirit championship. Not to be outdone, the Sandia High School Matadors claimed the 5A state championship in powerlifting for the second consecutive year.
These are just some of the successes our students have enjoyed so far this semester, with more to come!
These achievements—whether in a debate round, classroom lesson or basketball court—illustrate our success in developing critical thinkers, problem solvers and innovators who persevere. This is our Profile of a Graduate in action.
Have a great weekend.