Route 66 Comes Alive: East Mountain High Students Build Immersive Escape Room for Centennial

SANDIA PARK — For the students at East Mountain High School, history isn’t just something bound to the pages of a textbook. It is a ribbon of asphalt they drive past every day.

On Friday, a group of freshmen and juniors traded traditional classroom lectures for the culmination of a two-week experiential deep dive into the legacy, culture, and evolution of Route 66. The immersive endeavor, dubbed a “discovery group,” debuted  with the opening of a fully functional, student-designed Route 66-themed escape room built right inside the school.

The project aligns with the upcoming centennial of the historic highway, offering students a tangible connection to the past.

“It’s because it’s like a tangible type of history to us,” said Lily Lybarger, an East Mountain junior who helped spearhead the project and media outreach. “Since we know what it looks like today, knowing what it looked like 50 years ago, 100 years ago… it really comes alive for us because we can see the change that has occurred. We drive by these areas every day.”

The educational journey took students well beyond the classroom. The group embarked on field trips across the region, including a trek to Santa Rosa and a ride on the Albuquerque Rapid Transit (ART) bus along the Central Avenue stretch of Route 66. They took a historical tour of Old Town, completed a walking tour of downtown Albuquerque’s murals, and visited the Wheels Museum to study vintage neon signs.

To prepare for building their own interactive puzzle, students also visited a commercial escape room to learn the mechanics of immersive storytelling and puzzle design.

Junior Elizabeth Smutz, who designed the framework of the school escape room alongside Lybarger and classmate Ariana Markham-Hinders, found inspiration in the local archives.

“We looked at the menu of the Alvarado Hotel, and we were like, that would be really cool if we made that into a phone number,” Smutz said, explaining how historical artifacts were converted into interactive clues. “I learned more about Route 66 than I thought I would. I never realized I could see remnants of it right here.”

The hands-on project was built from scratch, utilizing existing school spaces, gathered supplies, and original student artwork. Every member of the discovery group painted a mural to help construct the visual backdrop of the experience.

“I guess I’m the main leading factor on this,” said freshman Tegan Tibbits, who helped bring the physical space together as he portrayed a wounded person the students were trying to help.

While the project celebrated the vibrant, neon-lit nostalgia of America’s Mother Road, it also forced students to confront the stark realities of urban decay and shifting economic landscapes. Driving through communities like Santa Rosa and observing the shuttered, once-vibrant storefronts along Central Avenue sparked unexpected, serious classroom discussions.

Marisa Solano, an East Mountain teacher who helped facilitate the student-led project, noted that the curriculum naturally expanded into topics of preservation, local economics, and social challenges—including the recent collapse of the historic Lindy’s diner downtown and the regional impact of the fentanyl epidemic.

“The initial conversation started with curiosity,” Solano said, noting that students questioned why landmark structures like the Alvarado Hotel fell into disarray. “Some of the areas that we visited were troubling to some of our youth, and it was some positive thinking about some solutions, potentially in the future.”

Solano, who grew up in the East Mountains and teaches environmental science and anatomy, said she saw the school’s core mission of empathy reflected in how the students processed the experience.

“I find a lot of hope in young people that they are looking for solutions, that they see things in terms of empathy… and that they collaborate and reflect on the things that we can potentially do,” Solano said. “It’s not always a grim story, right? There are solutions.”