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Our School…

The origin of the Academy’s name is found in the rich Catholic history of the Southwest. Spanish governor Don Diego de Vargas invoked Our Lady’s celestial aid in the campaign of reconquering the City of the Holy Faith after the infamous Pueblo Indian Revolt of 1680. Victorious, he attributed the success, which was without bloodshed on either side, to the Blessed Mother of God’s powerful intercession. He declared “Nuestra Señora la Conquistadora” the patroness of New Mexico and commanded a yearly celebration of the victory, which is still commemorated every year in Santa Fe’s downtown plaza. In this spirit of gratitude, the Academy prays for and relies upon the unfailing succor from the gentle hands of the Virgin Most Powerful. Under her mantle, the Academy, with the necessary cooperation and support from parents, forms young souls.

Nuestra Señora la Conquistadora Academy is a school serving students in Kindergarten through 8th grade, providing an authentic Traditional Catholic Education. La Conquistadora Academy honors by imitation the Jesuits, the Dominicans, and the Salesians and takes counsel from the writings of the various popes on the education of youth.

Substantially different from modern education that overvalues the accumulation of information, La Conquistadora Academy emphasizes the formation of the student’s character –i.e. 1.) the strengthening of the student’s will (to do what is correct and moral) and 2.) the development of the student’s mind (to judge correctly and to apply right reason). Such Catholic Character compels the person with these qualities to work for the restoration of all things in Christ.

MISSION & VISION STATEMENTS

Our Mission
Nuestra Señora la Conquistadora Academy’s mission is to provide children with a thorough Catholic education founded upon traditional principles. The school strives ultimately to form good Catholic citizens, men and women willing and able to work for the restoration of all things in Christ, freely submitting to the reign of Our Lord in the spiritual, moral, intellectual, and physical realms.
Our Vision
NSLCA will become the standard by which other area Traditional Catholic schooling options are measured due to her steadfastness to traditional educational practices, policies, philosophies and success. Because her approach to the formation of students is in harmonious accordance with Pius XI’s encyclical on education “Divini Illius Magistri,” NSLCA can realize this elevated and privileged status.
After five years of operation, NSLCA will see her graduating students able to easily continue their studies at prestigious Traditional Catholic schools such as La Salette Boys Academy and the schools of the Traditional Dominican Sisters. Moreover these souls will be properly prepared and able to excel at such schools because of their experience at NSLCA.

CURRICULUM

NSLCA follows the curriculum developed by the SSPX USA district. The SSPX curriculum is classical and aims to equip the student with the necessary means to work out his salvation  with the cooperation with God’s grace with one premise: that while man is a citizen of civil society, the perfection of his existence is to become to be a citizen of heaven. His celestial citizenship precedes and is greatly affected by his civil citizenship. The notion grace builds on nature drives true Christian education in forming the young soul. Our mission statement reads: The school strives ultimately to form good Catholic citizens, men and women willing and able to work for the restoration of all things in Christ, freely submitting to the reign of Our Lord in the spiritual, moral, intellectual, and physical realms. Our students learn to exert their influence on the world and not merely to privately profess Catholic ideals.

The classical curriculum draws on the experiences and wisdom of Western Culture through the treatment of literature, arts and history. This enables the student to come into contact with experiences otherwise unavailable to the student.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES’ VISIONARY OBJECTIVES

The NSLCA Board of Trustess’ final vision of the Academy is to transfer the operation and ownership to the SSPX. The surest way to quickly obtain this happy take-over is to operate as closely as possible, as an SSPX school. This applies to the business practices as well as the educational practices of NSLCA.

Perhaps most notable of all the business practices is the fact that NSLCA’s budget, like those of SSPX schools, will be balanced predominately by generous donations, which are greatly encouraged by parental and volunteer fundraising. Further, as a private school, NSLCA’s tuition rates are affordable to even large families.

Regarding educational practices, NSLCA will aim at procuring an educational environment, for both student and teacher, that is indistinguishable from SSPX schools. This means that the classroom is managed directly by the teacher, who is the heart of the educational program. The ideal NSLCA teacher is the ideal SSPX teacher, who, immersed in Catholic Tradition as a young soul, now becomes a powerful instrument of the restoration of all things in Christ. Accordingly, the treasure in the classroom is the teacher and not the methodology nor educational material. The teacher, experienced in the SSPX literature-based classical curriculum, observes the classroom closely and has the necessary latitude in decision making, which is geared at meeting individual or group student needs.

NSLCA firmly maintains that the priesthood is the key to the “restoration of all things in Christ” because at the root of the crisis of the world today, is the very crisis of the priesthood. This is the fundamental conviction of the Society, whose efforts and preoccupations in her priories, schools and seminaries are consecrated to, and effective in, the formation of priests.

These are the fundamental positions of Nuestra Señora la Conquistadora Academy. They ensure the Academy enjoys the typical growth of SSPX schools and eventual take-over by the SSPX.