El Rito Entrance

Mission, Goals & Objectives of the El Rito Normal School Alumni Association (NNMNSAA)

In April 2010, the association's Executive Officers presented new goals and and objectives to the Board. In 2011, an addendum was added to the Alumni Association By-Laws mission statement:
  • Leave a legacy for future generations – tangible evidence of our presence on this campus.
  • Advance educational opportunities; by providing scholarships for underserved students from rural communities in northern New Mexico.
  • Preserve the personal and real property at the former campus of the Northern New Mexico Normal School.
  • Conduct other functions and programs that serve the common benefit and general welfare of the membership​


Association Officers:
Leo Valdez, President; Eddie Guiterrez, Vice President; Leroy Salazar, Treasurer; Cecilia  Garcia Satcwell, Secretary; Ben Casados, Webmaster

Association Board: Ben Casados, Bertram Pena, Leo Valdez, Pamela Montrose, Ricky Romero, Steve Archuleta, Ted Martinez

Northern New Mexico Normal School Alumni Association

El Rito Alumni Association
Scholarship Application Open for 2025

The NNMNSAA Scholarship assists local students interested in attaining a higher education at a Vocational School, College or University. Scholarship amount may vary between $500-$1000 depending on the number of acceptable applications received and Scholarship recipients selected by the NNMNSAA Scholarship Committee.

El Rito Alumni Scholarship Application 2025

E-MAIL COMPLETE APPLICATIONS TO:
Isabel Rodarte, Chairperson / irodarte2258@gmail.com
Att: NNMNSAA Scholarship Committee, (505) 927-2650

El Rito Alumni Association

Legacy Archive brochure

Cover of Annals of the Spanish American Normal School BookAnnals of the Spanish American Normal School: The First 112 Years of Northern New Mexico College By Sigfredo Maestas.

Learn more about the founding of the Northern New Mexico College in 1909 as the Spanish American Normal School. Maestas himself attended the Normal School in the mid-1950s and later became dean and its 17th president. He shares first-hand accounts of the college’s evolution and how it has served the community for more than a century.

In 2009, Northern New Mexico College celebrated 100 years of its founding as the Spanish American Normal School. This book is about the Normal School and what it became. Although a very small school in its early history, it served its students, the majority of them from this region of the Río Arriba, by adapting to their times and changing needs. Northern New Mexico College, as the school is known today, evolved from its origin in 1909 to become a source of pride for people and a cause for hope for better lives.

The book is available for purchase on Amazon: Annals of the Spanish American Normal School at Amazon