Students react to the announcement that they were recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School at Grace Community School in Tyler, Texas, on Friday, Sept. 29, 2017. Grace Community School was recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education and was one of only two private schools in Texas to receive the award this year. (Chelsea Purgahn/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

CORY MCCOY, comccoy@tylerpaper.com

 

Grace Community School elementary students were surprised with some very big news: the school has just been honored as the only private elementary school in Texas to be named a 2017 Blue Ribbon School.

Stanton-Smith Elementary School in Whitehouse was the only other campus in the area recognized as a 2017 Blue Ribbon School.

The schools were among only 28 in the state to be nominated for the honor, according to a news release from the Department of Education on Thursday. The DOE honors up to 420 schools nationwide each year.

Grace Community School hosted a reveal ceremony to celebrate the honor.

Fifth-grade student Kylie Broumley was sitting on the floor of her classroom, reading to her friend Sophia Island, a first-grader, as part of their Friday reading buddy program when the school called every student to the gym for a surprise.

Kylie and Sophia said the program makes Friday their favorite day of the week.

“I get to be with Sophia,” Kylie said. “It’s really fun getting to talk to her and read.”

Sophia is working up the confidence to soon start reading to Kylie. This is just one of the many programs Grace utilized to earn the Blue Ribbon award for its academic excellence.

Kylie’s teacher Judy Miller said the program gives the fifth-graders much needed oral reading practice, while also helping form a bond with the younger students.

“It’s incredible,” Miller said. “You know, you work hard and to see (school leadership) honored for it is very powerful.”

After the students put their books up and headed to the chapel, Headmaster Jay Ferguson greeted them. He asked the students if they remembered when the high school won a Blue Ribbon Award two years ago. Most said they did, and Ferguson explained that of the hundreds of private schools in Texas, they were the only private elementary school to receive the honor.

“How we handle victories is a really good barometer of our soul,” Ferguson said, using the honor as a moment to teach the students about humility.

“We’re going to give glory to God,” he said. “We’re giving glory to God in this because he is the giver of all good things.”

Principal Jennifer Dozier was excited to share the good news and thanked the students for their hard work.

“After we leave here, I want you to look at your teacher and say, ‘Thank you for serving the Lord and teaching me,'” Dozier said. “Then when you get home tell your parents, ‘Thank you for sending me to Grace.'”

 

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About the Blue Ribbon Award

 

The U.S. Department of Education founded the Blue Ribbon Schools program in 1982 to recognize high performing public and private grade schools.

Schools nominated for the 2017 honor were selected as high performing as measured by state assessments, according to a Texas Education Agency news release. 

Each of the schools has an economically disadvantaged population of 22 percent or more.

After the nomination, the schools then completed a rigorous application process through the U.S. Department of Education. The schools also will be honored at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 6 and 7.

 

The honor designates the campus as a Blue Ribbon School for five years.

 

Whitehouse ISD Superintendent Chris Moran statement:

 

“We are all so excited for Mr. Haskell and his staff at Stanton-Smith Elementary School for their designation as a National Blue Ribbon Campus. The teachers have been working diligently to grow their students and this recognition will validate what they have done and continue to do every day for all students on their campus. The academic achievement at Stanton-Smith Elementary reflects the high expectations in Whitehouse ISD from the Board of Trustees to the classroom.”

 

This is the second Blue Ribbon Elementary School for Whitehouse ISD. In 2015, Cain Elementary School took the honor.