Pinecrest Academy was among the 287 public and 50 private schools honored by the US Department of Education as 2014 National Blue Ribbon Schools at a recognition ceremony on Nov. 10-11, 2014, in Washington, DC. Fr. Robert Presutti, LC, Pinecrest Academy President, and Mrs. Eleanor Millspaugh, Pinecrest Academy Lower School teacher, traveled to Washington on behalf of the PreK3-12th grade private Catholic School in Cumming, Georgia.
Blue Ribbon recipients were announced on Sept. 30 in two performance categories — Exemplary High Performing Schools and Exemplary Achievement Gap Closing Schools — based on all student scores, subgroup student scores and graduation rates. Pinecrest was recognized as an Exemplary High Performing School, one of just two private PreK-12 schools in the nation recognized in this category. Additionally, Pinecrest is the only 2014 National Blue Ribbon PreK-12 school in the State of Georgia and is among less than one percent of 132,183 schools in the nation to receive the Blue Ribbon honor. Just one other school in Forsyth County, South Forsyth Middle School, shared the 2014 Blue Ribbon School designation with Pinecrest.
The Blue Ribbon recognition ceremony was the culmination of a two-day conference for Blue Ribbon schools, sponsored by the Department of Education. “The talks and workshops we participated in highlighted the ongoing importance of education for the progress and development of a nation and a civil society,” commented Fr. Robert Presutti, LC, Pinecrest Academy President. “The recognition ceremony showcased the achievement of educators and noteworthy institutions around the nation, and there were many Catholic schools recognized, underscoring the continued relevance of the Catholic educational tradition.”
“Attending a two-day conference with representatives from the top performing schools was daunting, enlightening, and inspiring,” said Eleanor Millspaugh, Pinecrest Academy fifth grade teacher. “The dedication of all the schools to providing the best education possible within their own personal constraints and limitations was laudable. It was terrific to talk, compare notes and swap ideas with all of these great educators. I came back feeling that there was so much more I could do and determined to get started right away!”
All Blue Ribbon School recipients received a commemorative plaque and flag during the recognition ceremony.
The 2014 National Blue Ribbon award arrived on the heels of Pinecrest’s designation as a Catholic Honor Roll ‘School of Excellence’ (formerly Top 50 Catholic High School), as named by the Cardinal Newman Society. This marked the eighth consecutive year the school has been named a School of Excellence.
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