Elev8 New Mexico

Middle school students face exciting, complex challenges as they transition from childhood to adulthood, including puberty, peer relations, greater cognitive skills, and independence. They need their families and adult guidance to help avoid risks like:

• mentally checking out of school or dropout,
• antisocial behavior, unprotected sex, or drug/alcohol use, and
• untreated mental/behavioral health issues.

Youth who take part in high-quality, engaging, out-of-school-time programs build knowledge and resiliency skills to counter risks. Students in voluntary, structured learning activities become critical thinkers, improve work skills, learn about careers and gain self-confidence through service learning and physical activity.

Students who are healthy and not worried about their family’s financial security do better in school.

Our schools, so important to youth development, yet so focused on testing scores, cannot meet our nation’s current educational or workforce needs alone.

What is the Elev8 New Mexico approach?

Elev8 New Mexico partners with local and national organizations to implement a comprehensive, evidence-based program that includes and integrates three “best practices” to provide direct support and services and appealing learning activities to middle school students and their families before/after school, on some weekends and in the summer.

> Learn about these three core components.

A statewide initiative, the Elev8 New Mexico demonstration phase is being implemented over four years in five diverse middle schools: Gadsden Middle School (by the Mexico border); Laguna Middle School (Pueblo of Laguna); the Native American Community Academy (an Albuquerque charter school); and Grant and Wilson Middle Schools (in urban Albuquerque).