Sandia Preparatory School
In 1958, Barbara Young Simms began to investigate the possibility of starting a girls day school in Albuquerque.Simms commissioned architect John Gaw Meem to design the school complex in the territorial style.Sandia Prep is an independent school and does not accept funding from the district, state, or federal government; therefore, it is not restricted by policies put in place by those entities.Sandia Prep encompasses 33 acres, including 5 sports fields, 4 tennis courts, and a track and soccer stadium.The buildings include over 50 classrooms and administrative offices, three computer labs, the DesignLab (Prep's makerspace), art studios, a photo lab, the Center for Learning Excellence, the Outdoor Leadership Program, Saunders Library, the Russell Student Center and its cafeteria, the Pitchfork Café, a dance room, a rehearsal room, and the 300+ seat McCall Family Theater which was renovated in the fall of 2018.