Alumnae

Former Students

Lucy Gent Foma

Class of 2001

Dachin Frances

Class of 2003

Lucia Ortiz

Class of 2018

Ruby Sallah

Class of 2021

Lucy Gent Foma, MA

Alumna

  • Santa Fe Girls’ School Class of 2001
  • Bachelor of Arts, Smith College
  • Masters of Arts, Cornell (Regional Planning)
  • City and Regional Planner, Santa Fe County

“I followed Ms. Lewin when she went from being my fifth and sixth grade teacher at Atalaya to starting the Girls’ School. I was lucky to have her as my teacher for four years! When I think back to the root of my deep concern about Mother Earth, social justice, and my inspiration to make the world a better place, I think Ms. Lewin instilled and reinforced many of the values I carry today. I am now a City and Regional Planner by profession, and even though we never learned about planning in such terms, Ms. Lewin was one of the first people to bring my awareness to our built environment and its impact on the climate. I feel fortunate that Ms. Lewin planted the seeds of environmentalism, scientific advancement and communication into our awareness.

I felt that being in a girls’ environment helped foster vulnerability and genuine connection. As the first class of the Girls’ School, it was just about ten of us in the whole school. My friends and I explored new-found skills in confident debating, honest questioning, and new-found interests in boys. We were teeter-tottering between our childish girl personas and our growth into womanhood.
I think that the Girls’ School helped reinforce the foundation that my parents provided for me to care about the world, care about my community, and care about my friends and family. I think that once we have the knowledge of our interconnectedness, we have a purpose.”

Dachin Frances, PhD

Alumna

  • Santa Fe Girls’ School Class of 2003
  • Bachelor of Science, NMSU
  • PhD, University of Toronto (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology)
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, UNC Chapel Hill Biology Department

“My time at the Girls’ School was two years where I could experiment with self-expression in a way that I couldn’t at public school. The Girls’ School gave me confidence in my academic abilities and I gained independent and critical thinking skills. The advice I would give to a current student is to think big and have confidence in yourself. Push past the boundaries of what you believe you are capable of.”

Lucia Ortiz

Alumna

  • New Mexico School for the Arts (Class of 2022)
  • Santa Fe Girls’ School Class of 2018

Ms. Glass was the most memorable teacher I’ve had in all of my schooling. She has an ability to truly listen to her students and commits herself to teaching every side of history. Our classes were most often discussion-based where we learned to advocate for our beliefs, and to hold a place of understanding for others.

My peers at the Girls’ School were all hardworking and came from different backgrounds. Many of them had artistic ambitions, which led me to discover my own. I met one of my closest friends in my time at The Girls’ School and have watched her grow into an incredible person who has a strong sense of where she wants to go and what she wants to do. We get to graduate from high school together!

Ruby Sallah

Alumna

I am at Santa Fe High School. It’s a lot of fun. I still have all of my friends from the Girls’ School. I feel confident about my school work and the rest of my career as a student. The Girls’ School really prepared me for high school and a future career.