Like most kids in the Isleta Pueblo, Summer Jones attended the schools in Los Lunas, New Mexico. Summer always liked the pueblo, so she never really considered going to school in Albuquerque, just a few miles to the north. That is, she never considered it until she heard that the tribal council would pay for a few students to go to Menaul School in Albuquerque.

Deciding the middle school was too crowded, Summer applied to be one of those students. Halfway through eighth grade, she was accepted and began going to Menaul. Although the northern part of the pueblo is less than fifteen miles from Albuquerque, Summer and her mother live in Belen, near the southern end of the pueblo, so it takes 45–60 minutes to get to and from school. This doesn’t leave Summer a lot of time for much besides sports and homework, but she’s still glad to be at Menaul.

“The classes here are maybe a third the size of the classes at Los Lunas,” she says. “And here, you see the same people in all your classes so you get to know everyone. And people are all friends with anyone, without the cliques that develop in a larger school.” She also likes the modular scheduling at Menaul. “You take four classes every module (roughly a month),” she says, “and each of the classes lasts an hour and a half, so you have time to really focus on the subject.”

As a tenth grader, Summer has to start thinking about her Capstone Project, an independent undertaking that all Menaul students must finish to graduate. Since she likes working with children, right now she thinks that may be her Capstone focus, but it could have something to do with animals. In fact, Summer may well study zoology in college. She has had a variety of pets—a parakeet, a hermit crab, a salamander, and a bearded dragon, a reptile that looks a bit like an iguana.

Summer says that although most people from the pueblo stay there when they grow up, those with professions often leave. Even after getting a good education, though, she intends to return. “It’s my pueblo,” she says simply, “My people.”

Menaul School offers many Native American and Latino children the chance to get a college preparatory education among a diverse population from many countries. This opportunity enriches what they can take back to their native communities. Half of our gifts to the Christmas Joy Offering supports racial ethnic schools and colleges that give young people a better chance to develop their gifts and decide how to use them to serve their communities. The other half helps families that have used their gifts to serve the church when they encounter unexpected financial needs. Both parts of the Offering give us a chance to respond to the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ by helping us live out Jesus’ commandment to love one another. Let us give generously.

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