Background/History

On a trip to the Espanola Valley in New Mexico from Indiana, Mellie Perkins discovered that there was no school public or private in the valley. The children of the community begged Mellie to return and teach them. Mellie went back to Indiana committed to returning to the Espanola Valley to open a United Brethren mission school there. In September of 1912, the same year New Mexico became a state, Mellie returned and opened the school. Six students attended that first day. Since then the school has grown, thrived, and found a permanent home on McCurdy Road. The school has educated thousands of leaders who have shared their skills and their faith all over the United States and the world. Initially the need was simple. There was no school and our faithful missionaries provided a school. There was also no medical care so Mellie and the missionaries who followed her made rounds helping anyone in the area in need of medical care. As McCurdy School grew stronger then it became an even greater force for good in the valley. As well as doing an exemplary job educating students, the school established the first medical clinic, the first nursing program, and the first hospital that were staffed by EUB and later United Methodist doctors and nurses. When the school's gym burned down in the 1930s, the school was instrumental in starting the first fire department.

The need has always been great since Rio Arriba County is one of the poorest in the United States and 25% of our population has not graduated from high school. This year we are celebrating our centennial and are visioning a new future for McCurdy School. McCurdy, accepted as a public charter school, will educate 584 students. The United Methodist ministry will continue to provide educational support programs. The (501) (c) (3) McCurdy Schools of Northern New Mexico will be renamed; under the new name, it will start another hundred years of educational support ministries. The ministry will continue our chapel and devotional services, Project Carino, which is a mental health ministry, McCurdy Preschool, Before and After School Program, and our Volunteers in Mission Program. Our vision over the next five years is to also begin a number of other educational support ministries such as parenting, GED and ESL classes, a summer educational enrichment camp, music and art ministries and a teen center.

Goals & Objectives

(A) To launch McCurdy Ministries by August of 2012, with beginning programs to include the following: McCurdy Preschool, Project Carino, chapel and devotional services, Before and After School Program, and Volunteers in Mission.
(B) To start a faith-based Summer Educational Enrichment Camp for 100 children by summer of 2013.
(C) To provide salary support for a Program Director of our educational enrichment ministries.

Activities Plan

(A) Complete the legal process to rename McCurdy Schools of Northern New Mexico by May 1, 2012.
(B) Complete planning for the existing ministries that we must continue so that they can launch the first day of school in August 2012.
(C) Begin planning and locate funding for new educational ministries to launch by summer of 2013.