Southwest Early College Academy named a world top 10 school
A San Luis border school made the world top 10 by opening college access for nearly all of its migrant-family students.
Southwest Junior High, now Southwest Early College Academy after a June 1 name change, landed a Top 10 spot in T4 Education’s 2026 World’s Best School Prizes in the Overcoming Adversity category. The San Luis campus is just south of Yuma and a short distance from the U.S.-Mexico border.
100% of the school’s students qualify for free and reduced lunch, and 98% of students in Gadsden Elementary School District #32 speak English as a second language. Nearly 100% of its students have access to higher education, most of them children of migrant workers who often have little or no access to financial aid. The district’s migrant education program serves students whose lives can be shaped by transient schedules, language barriers and cultural differences.
Since 2007, the district’s Early College Program has helped more than 2,000 students earn college credit in algebra and precalculus. About 500 fourth- through eighth-grade students are identified each year as advanced learners for the program. Southwest Junior High has been ranked the No. 1 middle school in Yuma County for two years in a row.
In an October 2023 profile, monthly staff gatherings included food, shoutouts and collaboration time, along with birthday celebrations and a CTE technical education club. Principal Luis Reyes, a district alumnus who had been principal for just over two years at the time, emphasized family-centered practices, and the honor belongs to the San Luis community.
A celebration at the school on June 25 included band and folkloric dance performances, and Arizona Rep. Mariana Sandoval attended. T4 Education will name the five category winners in November after a judging academy reviews the Top 10 schools, and one school from the shortlist will also receive a Community Choice Award based on public votes.
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