Meet Your Neighbor: Cindy Stong Built a Free STEM School

Cindy Stong never planned to start a school. She flunked a shorthand test, spent eight years earning an engineering degree while working and raising kids, and built a long career at Boeing before she ever moved to Alamogordo. Today she is the founder of Sacramento School of Engineering and Science (SSES), a free public charter high school on Highway 70 that met its goals on state testing in its first year and has more than doubled in size since.

I visited SSES during the school's Halloween party to sit down with Cindy and the school's executive director, Amanda Allen. Here is their story, and what families moving to Alamogordo should know about this school.

SSES at a Glance

How did a Boeing engineer end up starting a school?

Cindy grew up in Southern California in a family where nobody had gone to college. She loved math all through high school, but she had never heard of engineering as a career.

“I had no exposure to engineering,” she told me. “I had no idea that those jobs even existed.”

After moving to Seattle, she applied to Boeing as a secretary. She failed the shorthand test, so Boeing placed her in engineering as a technical aide instead. The company paid for her to go back to school, and it took her eight years of working and raising kids to finish her engineering degree at Seattle University.

From there she built a career that touched almost every corner of the aircraft business. She worked on interiors and electronics, earned her MBA, and helped manage the 777 program, where her favorite part was working with airline customers as they watched their planes being built. She spent her final five years at Boeing's Apache helicopter plant in Mesa, Arizona, running a training program that prepared young factory workers for engineering jobs. Managers lined up every year to hire her students.

Why did Alamogordo need a STEM high school?

When Cindy and her husband, a retired Boeing electrical engineer, moved to Alamogordo, they started a community robotics team. Through MainGate, a Chamber of Commerce program that works with Holloman Air Force Base, Cindy heard about a growing need. The base expects to expand its test track, and that means more engineers and scientists.

“We just need a pipeline of engineers and scientists,” she said, “but if you train them locally, they tend to stay.”

A friend urged her to project manage a charter school application. Cindy partnered with Michelle Perry, a curriculum specialist and teacher trainer, and together they took on the process: community meetings, a 500 page application, and a hearing in Santa Fe before the state's elected Public Education Commission. They chose to start with high school because Holloman already has strong elementary and middle school options.

SSES opened for the 2025 to 2026 school year with 32 students. This year it has about 75.

How is SSES funded?

SSES is a free public school. It is chartered by the state and operates as its own school district, separate from Alamogordo Public Schools.

It is funded the same way every New Mexico public school is, through per student state funding, and it follows the same state rules, testing and oversight. A small share of that funding is held back for the state's monitoring of charter schools. SSES can also apply for grants, and it has formed a nonprofit foundation to pursue grants and, one day, to buy the building the school currently rents from Cottonwood Church.

The school works closely with Alamogordo Public Schools too. SSES leases a bus from the district for morning and afternoon pickups, which helps families out by the base, and contracts with the district for school meals.

What does a typical day look like at SSES?

Every morning starts with a student led meeting where kids share ideas, plan projects and community service, start new clubs, and practice speaking in front of their peers. Amanda describes it as the time when students shape their school.

Classes are integrated, so a hands on engineering project might show up in English class as a writing assignment. Students have built autonomous robots, designed projects in CAD, built full scale cardboard furniture strong enough to hold Cindy's husband, and designed the games for a student run community carnival. That carnival doubled as parent teacher conferences, and 95 percent of families came.

The school's FIRST robotics team, the Phenoms (FRC Team 10994), received a $3,000 competition sponsorship from the Gene Haas Foundation. You can see the big check hanging over the 3D printers in the lab.

How does SSES connect students to real careers?

Instead of a crowded career fair, SSES brings in guest speakers almost every week for an in depth conversation. Recent guests have included pilots, NASA employees, meteorologists, geologists, test track engineers, a beekeeper, a locksmith, and an engineer from the Albuquerque energy startup Pacific Fusion, who stayed an hour answering students' questions.

Students intern with local organizations including a veterinary clinic and Big Brothers Big Sisters. An agreement to place students in internships on Holloman, including with the test track squadron, is in its final legal review. The school also takes part in GRIP, a new state program that gives students at risk of not graduating a paid internship that earns back missing credits.

Why does SSES have a four day school week?

SSES holds classes Monday through Thursday, like Tularosa and Cloudcroft, and meets the state's required instructional hours. Fridays are optional, and Amanda calls them “the most powerful day.”

On Fridays, students can get one on one tutoring, catch up on credits, or join clubs like esports, robotics, art, drama, broadcasting, and Dungeons and Dragons. About a third of the school shows up by choice. Some come just to see their friends.

The school year also runs two extra weeks into June with special interest camps. This year the school hopes to send students to a residential engineering camp at NMSU.

Who is SSES a good fit for?

Despite the name, you don't have to already love math and science.

“We take anyone and everyone that wants to come here,” Cindy said. The goal is exposure, so students discover careers they never knew existed, the same way Cindy did.

SSES serves students with IEPs and 504 plans, and gifted students, just like any public school. It is intentionally small. The current building will hold about 120 students, and once it is full, enrollment goes to a lottery.

Students can still play sports, too. New Mexico rules let students play for their home district, so an Alamogordo student can attend SSES and still try out for Alamogordo High's teams.

What should military families know about SSES?

SSES works closely with Holloman's school liaison and has applied for the Purple Star designation for military friendly schools. Students who transfer in mid year are paired with a student shadow partner, and the school's website has a page for military connected families.

Families are welcome to tour before they move. “I've had families say, we're not moving here yet, but we'll be here in two months,” Amanda said. “Can I tour the school while I'm in your community? Absolutely.”

If you are PCSing in, my Holloman AFB relocation guide and school enrollment guide for Holloman families walk through the rest of the move.

What's next for SSES?

Cindy and Amanda dream big. They would like to buy the building, expand it, and someday build a new high school on the two acres behind it. For now, they are focused on adding a full ninth grade class each year while staying small enough that everyone knows everyone.

“Come by and see it,” Amanda said. Visitors are greeted by student ambassadors and can tour the classrooms, the community murals, and the student podcasting studio. To schedule a tour, call (575) 888-3421 or visit charter-sses.org.

What does this mean for families moving to Alamogordo?

School options are one of the first things families ask me about. SSES gives Alamogordo families another free public choice, with small classes, hands on learning and real career connections, alongside Alamogordo Public Schools. You can find more about the area's schools in my Moving to Alamogordo guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Information in this article comes from an interview with SSES founder Cindy Stong and executive director Amanda Allen on 29 October 2026 and from the school's website. Enrollment, programs and schedules can change, so confirm details with the school.