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About Us

Additional Information

We are RISE


RISE is an innovative educational nonprofit dedicated to fostering social-emotional learning (SEL) skills crucial for lifelong success. Our mission is to empower individuals to reach their full potential academically and socially - emotionally. We strongly advocate for equitable access to high-quality Free SEL education, believing that every child deserves these essential skills regardless of background or socioeconomic status.

RISE School collaborates with schools, educators, parents, and programs to equip students with essential knowledge and tools for navigating today's diverse and complex world. Through innovative educational techniques and evidence-based practices, we aim to inspire confident, empathetic leaders with strong critical thinking, problem-solving, and conflict resolution skills.

Our curriculum takes a holistic approach, addressing students' mental, emotional, behavioral, and academic needs. We believe that fostering social-emotional learning (SEL) skills is key to reducing negative behaviors like violence and bullying.

Your support for RISE School helps us reach underserved communities and provide vital skills to children. Together, we empower the next generation through innovative SEL practices, new technologies, and the generosity of supporters like you.


RESILIENCE IS ESSENTIAL to Inspire and Self-Empower Children and Adults.


RISE (Resilience. Inspire. Self-Empower) is a free innovative online SEL (Social Emotional Learning) platform available to everyone where we teach hard work and an uncompromising standard of excellence results in a genuine sense of achievement and self-respect that will carry over into all aspects of our lives.


RISE is free, user friendly, and can easily be used by teachers for an advisory period, after school programs, or to supplement current curriculum. RISE can be displayed on Promethean Boards or self directed by students on their Chrome Books making resilience practices easy, efficient, and effective.

The 22 Practices are written in a user friendly format for ease of instruction or self direction.


Our new online programs teach resilience skills such as toughness, grit, endurance, and 'Ol fashioned' mental fortitude. Too many of our students are at risk of failing in New Mexico because they give up, they lose their way. With RISE, student's learn the ultimate goal is "better" in everything and we orient them to always follow this direction as sailors in the past used the North Star. Ancient philosophies to current scientific studies give ONE reason as the answer to success : RESILIENCE.


Let's give our students the tools to set them up for success in school and life.


Empower the Future. Join the Movement. Support us in teaching Resilience to NM students... skills which essential but unfortunately not taught in many traditional classrooms.


Our Vision: Empower Students

Through Innovative Education

Meet Our Team

STACEY DUCAT Board Member

JESSICA LUEVANO Board Member

STACEY DUCAT Board Member

A bilingual learning facilitator with 20 years of experience,   Stacey teaches children how to trust themselves through inquiry-based and experiential learning and navigate the skill base of the Common Core.  

She states: As a Golden Apple Teacher of Distinction I feel it’s important to impart the understanding that students are the essent

A bilingual learning facilitator with 20 years of experience,   Stacey teaches children how to trust themselves through inquiry-based and experiential learning and navigate the skill base of the Common Core.  

She states: As a Golden Apple Teacher of Distinction I feel it’s important to impart the understanding that students are the essential designers of their own learning and that they can articulate their ideas to their peers and to me.  This articulation can be a suggestion for a novel or an entire science unit.  Student learning has many shapes, and I facilitate the process of students creating their unique individual shapes.

I am a 2002 graduate of Chapman University Credential Program and a 1992 graduate of CSU Chico with a BA in Spanish.  Currently I am a Project Lead the Way Lead Teacher and a member of the FCUSD Stem Leadership Team.  STEM education is a very effective tool to deliver the above-mentioned skills and help create the leaders of tomorrow.

RICK HERRERA Board Member

JESSICA LUEVANO Board Member

STACEY DUCAT Board Member

  Richard Herrera is Owner/Operator of Herrera and Associates, Albuquerque, New Mexico Area Industry Financial Services Company with responsibility for retirement and estate planning. Richard works with the top financial companies in the U.S. to help New Mexico citizens conserve, protect, and increase their economic value. He has close ti

  Richard Herrera is Owner/Operator of Herrera and Associates, Albuquerque, New Mexico Area Industry Financial Services Company with responsibility for retirement and estate planning. Richard works with the top financial companies in the U.S. to help New Mexico citizens conserve, protect, and increase their economic value. He has close ties with the South Valley Community as he was born and raised in the area. Richard Herrera has worked with the South Valley community and its residents for over 33 years. Richard Herrera has been married for 18 years.

R.I.S.E board member.

JESSICA LUEVANO Board Member

JESSICA LUEVANO Board Member

JESSICA LUEVANO Board Member

Jessica Luevano shares a vision of resilience in the community for our youth and life in general. Jessica has a BA in Sociology an AA in Education and is currently working with Social Emotional Support throughout Albuquerque Public Schools.  She states, "Its clear we need to build our children's emotional well being by providing them the 

Jessica Luevano shares a vision of resilience in the community for our youth and life in general. Jessica has a BA in Sociology an AA in Education and is currently working with Social Emotional Support throughout Albuquerque Public Schools.  She states, "Its clear we need to build our children's emotional well being by providing them the tools they need to adapt and cope with today's ever challenging world". 

Sara Werner Video

JESSICA LUEVANO Board Member

JESSICA LUEVANO Board Member

Sara Werner Hoskins is a writer and Language Arts teacher in Albuquerque, NM, and is excited to join the R.I.S.E. team. She studied theater and film at Azusa Pacific University in Southern California, and has since worked in all areas of production, for both stage and screen. She recently received her Masters in Secondary Education from t

Sara Werner Hoskins is a writer and Language Arts teacher in Albuquerque, NM, and is excited to join the R.I.S.E. team. She studied theater and film at Azusa Pacific University in Southern California, and has since worked in all areas of production, for both stage and screen. She recently received her Masters in Secondary Education from the University of New Mexico, achieving membership in the Phi Kappa Phi honor society. She is a lover of the arts, science, and close up magic. She is currently teaching sixth grade.

Eppie Robert. Lopez Teacher/Founder

Founder Narrative | Why RISE Exists


RISE was born from lived experience—not theory.


Growing up, I watched people I loved face challenges they were never taught how to handle. My younger brother struggled with alcoholism. My uncle lost his life to drugs. These were not people without potential. They were people without tools.

No one had taught them how to process pain, manage emotions, or navigate adversity in a healthy way. When life delivered its hardest moments, they were left to figure it out alone.

I often think about how different their paths might have been if they had learned—even early on—how to pause, reflect, regulate emotions, and make intentional choices. If they had access to resilience strategies, emotional language, and supportive guidance instead of silence, shame, or survival coping.

That realization stayed with me.

Even in my own life, I can point to moments where things could have gone differently with the right skills. One memory stands out clearly. As a child playing in a youth football league, I was fully focused on the game when two teammates secretly placed grass inside my helmet. On the sideline, the coach noticed, laughed, and joined in the joke. I felt embarrassed, disrespected, and angry. I reacted. I was told to calm down—but no one taught me how.

Looking back now, I don’t see a “bad reaction.” I see a child experiencing humiliation without emotional tools. I see a moment where resilience could have been learned—but wasn’t.

That moment, like so many others, became part of what shaped me.

RISE exists to change that story—for students, families, and communities.

RISE teaches what many people never learned:
How to recognize emotions before they take over
How to pause instead of react
How to reframe adversity
How to build confidence, self-control, and purpose
How to turn hardship into growth

Through our SEL curriculum, virtual campus, eBooks, and Compass AI assistant, RISE provides consistent, age-appropriate guidance that meets students where they are—especially those facing difficult circumstances, instability, or emotional overload.

Compass exists so students are never alone with their thoughts.
RISE exists so struggle does not become identity.
Together, they exist to help students rise—from surviving to thriving.

I believe deeply that if these skills had been taught earlier—to my brother, my uncle, and even to me—outcomes could have been different. Not perfect. But better.

And better, practiced consistently, becomes growth.
Growth becomes resilience.
Resilience changes lives.

That belief is the foundation of RISE.


Resilience. Inspire. Self-Empower.


Find out more

Our Story

R.I.S.E  501 (C)  3 NON-PROFIT EIN 84-3250531 - PUBLIC CHARITY STATUS 170 (B) (1) (A) (VI)

RIO RANCHO. NM.

EPPIELOPEZ@RISE.SCHOOL

1.505.363.3863

Association for Middle Level Education Conference in Orlando, FL.

Association for Middle Level Education Conference in Orlando, FL.

Association for Middle Level Education Conference in Orlando, FL.

  • With a community more than 35,000 members strong, AMLE is the go-to source for middle level education peer-reviewed research, best practice, and professional development. 

Ready to R.I.S.E

Association for Middle Level Education Conference in Orlando, FL.

Association for Middle Level Education Conference in Orlando, FL.

These are your session details:

Session:  3206 - R.I.S.E. - Resilience, Inspire, Self-Empower - We Teach the "How" of Resilience (Concurrent Session)

Schedule:  Saturday, October 27, 2018, 9:55 am - 10:55 am

Room Details: Tampa, capacity of 200 set Theater Style (chairs in rows)

AMLE2018 in Orlando, FL.

Association for Middle Level Education Conference in Orlando, FL.

AMLE2018 in Orlando, FL.

  • AMLE is the only international organization of its kind for middle school educators. 

Teaching the 'HOW TO' of Resilience.

RISE is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization • UEI: XC84LTY7ULH8 EIN: 843250531

Based in Rio Rancho, New Mexico • Serving schools nationwide

eppielopez@rise.school

1.505.363.3863

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