Onate High School

Organ Mountain High School (OMHS) is one of four public high schools in Las Cruces, New Mexico. As of the 2021-2022 school year, OMHS serves 1,874 students, grades 9-12. The school is a part of the Las Cruces Public Schools District.

History

Organ Mountain High School was established in 1988 under the name of Oñate High School. It was originally located in what is now Sierra Middle School, and Jeff Pomeroy served as the school's first student body president. Construction of OMHS's current building began in 1991 and was completed in 1993, making it Las Cruces's third public high school after Las Cruces High School (est. 1918) and Mayfield High School (est. 1965). The school's architectural style reflects a castle-like theme, its mascot is the knight, and its colors are black, white, and teal. It houses a planetarium and, at the time of its construction, the largest performing arts center of the Las Cruces's high schools.

The original name of the school, Oñate High School, was chosen by city vote while the school was under construction and the color teal was added to the school by the cheerleaders in order give the school more color. On August 4, 2020, the Las Cruces Public Schools Board of Education voted unanimously to rename the school Organ Mountain High School, which took effect the following academic year, 2021-2022.

Academics

School grade

Beginning in the 2010-2011 academic year, the NMPED (New Mexico Public Education Department) replaced the No Child Left Behind Act and AYP testing with a new grading formula. Since then, grades and student performance have been calculated through various forms of testing which also include graduation rates.

Athletics

OMHS competes in the New Mexico Activities Association (NMAA), as a class 6A school in District 3. In 2014, NMAA realigned the state's schools in to six classifications and adjusted district boundaries.http://www.nmact.org/file/Section_4.pdf In addition to Organ Mountain High School, the schools in District 3-6A include: Mayfield High School, Las Cruces High School, Gadsden High School and Deming High School.

On May 11, 2017 Former Midland Lee wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator Scott Veliz was named the new head football coach at Organ Mountain High School. Prior to his arrival in Midland last spring, Veliz spent several years coaching football in El Paso, Texas. He served as the offensive coordinator at El Paso Eastwood in 2013 & 2014, where he directed a Troopers offense that averaged just under 40 points per game. In 2015, he became the offensive coordinator at El Paso El Dorado and engineered an Aztecs attack that scored 46.8 points per contest. Those numbers were good enough to be ranked #2 in yards per game and #5 in points per game in the entire state of Texas.

References

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1988 establishments in New Mexico
Educational institutions established in 1988
Buildings and structures in Las Cruces, New Mexico
Public high schools in New Mexico
Schools in Doña Ana County, New Mexico