History

 

Prep’s evolution from a small school for five students to an innovative, rigorous, comprehensive launch pad for thousands of alumni around the world is truly impressive.

 

 

Original Sandía School

The predecessor to today’s Sandia Preparatory School was the original Sandí­a School, a private day and boarding school for girls founded by Ruth Hanna McCormick Simms in 1932. Its first year, Sandía School held classes for five students and one teacher in a private house where Manzano Day School is now located. The school was formed in part to help prepare girls for further study or college in the Eastern United States.

1937, the school moved to a new permanent campus (which is now part of Kirtland Air Force Base). Mrs. Simms commissioned architect John Gaw Meem to design the school complex in the Territorial Style. By 1938, the school had 75 students, nine of whom were boarders, and 18 teachers. Due to World War II, Sandía School was closed in 1942. A number of alumnae from the first Sandía School actively participated in the organization of the current Sandia Preparatory School.

 

 

Published School History

Constant Possum: A History of Sandia Preparatory School by former SPS archivist and faculty member Lou Liberty.

Transitions and Legacy - SPS at 50 also written by former SPS archivist and faculty member Lou Liberty, was published as a supplement to Constant Possum.
 

Copies of these books are available through Sandia Prep. To receive a copy, please contact the Sandia Prep Alumni Affairs Office at alumni@sandiaprep.org.