About Escuela
The Campus
Our campus is an urban oasis that stretches the historic city block that housed the Harwood Girls School on 7th Street and Mountain. In the last two decades we have steadily expanded and invested in our home to include community resources like the Harwood Art Center, a custom primary school building designed with the help of Escuela 5-year-olds, and plans to continue investing in the property and our community over the coming years.
Anti-Bias Anti-Racist Education
Escuela del Sol Montessori takes an informed, dynamic approach to education that works to identify and respond to discriminatory policies and practices in education. The foundation of Montessori education purposefully encourages and empowers children to take an active, problem-solving approach to explore and create strategies for improving social conditions of their communities including race, ethnicity, culture, gender, sexual orientation, physical & learning abilities, and economic class.
This work is never done and it will continue with each passing school year as a community of people lifting one another up in hopes of new intellectual, emotional, and social development. At Escuela del Sol Montessori, we are lifelong learners. For more on our core value of Anti-Bias Anti-Racist education, see our Family Handbook.
Our Founding Director
Escuela del Sol Montessori and the Harwood Art Center was guided for 41 years by Friedje vanGils, M.Ed., who served as Executive Director and Head of School. After searching for a school for her children that wouldn’t echo the rigid “prison-like” education of her youth, Friedje found Escuela del Sol, where learning was a joyful, explorative experience. She became the school’s first director in 1980, at a time when the then-one-room preschool was on the verge of collapse. Friedje organized a Board of Trustees and worked with them, faculty, and staff to give the school direction, taking it from a small preschool to one of Albuquerque’s preeminent early childhood, elementary, and junior high schools. In 2021, Friedje decided it was time to spend more time with her grandchildren and pass on the leadership to a new generation, hiring alumna Kate Chavez as Executive Director.
Community Report
What an incredible couple years of growth and change it has been! We’ve undergone many exciting developments that are moving us forward in meaningful ways.
On campus, there’s vitality and energy. The support from our community has been a driving force. Your ongoing partnership, energy, and belief in our mission make everything we do possible. Together, we are continuing the legacy of something truly special.
