Student Support Services

College Counseling

Acacia McCombs, Senior Advisor
amccombs@nmschoolforthearts.org

Special Education

Lisa Oberteuffer, Special Education Coordinator
loberteuffer@nmschoolforthearts.org
(505) 310-4194, ext. 110

Mental Health Services

Shell Welch, School Counselor
swelch@nmschoolforthearts.org

Student Support Services

The New Mexico School for the Arts offers a range of services to ensure that every student has the social-emotional and academic tools they need to succeed in high school, and that students and parents get plenty of time and support for college career and post-secondary planning, including scholarship identification and application.

As a part of this, through NMSA’s 9th Grade Academy course, all students are taught non-cognitive skills, such as growth mindset, organization, time management, self-assessment, self-advocacy and note-taking; close reading skills, such as annotation and text-dependent questioning; social-emotional skills, including cooperative learning, communicating with teachers and stress management; and test-taking skills.

The school also provides special education services to students with disabilities and gifted students. and mental health support services to students who need it.

9th Grade Academy

This course prepares all 9th graders for academic and social-emotional success as high school students. Students will study non-cognitive skills (growth mindset, organization, time management, self-assessment, self-advocacy, note-taking, college preparation); close reading skills (annotation, text features, text-dependent questioning); social-emotional skills (cooperative learning, communicating with teachers, stress management); and test-taking skills.

Senior Seminar

The course focuses on helping senior students identify colleges and apply for admission. This includes focus on creating the common application, college essay writing, admission requirements (including audition and portfolio development), financial aid and college recruitment visits.

Do you represent a college or university and want to visit NMSA?

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School Counseling Program and Mental Health Services

The NMSA school counselor works to support all students, staff, and families on school related needs. Services include: whole class social and emotional learning, brief small group counseling based on common need, brief one to one sessions on school related topics and challenges, crisis response counseling, and referral to on-site and community mental health services. Students and families will be emailed seasonally with offerings on current topics such as stress management, communication skills, community building skills, bullying prevention, problem solving, and restorative justice.