On This Date in Nativity History

October 2008

On this date, in October 2008, Nativity School received the U.S. Department of Education’s National Blue Ribbon School designation. The program was created in 1982 to recognize exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence as evidenced by measures of student achievement, the program honors high-performing schools as well as schools that are showing great progress in reducing achievement gaps between students. While most of the annual awards go to public schools, a maximum of fifty private schools may also be designated each year. It bears mentioning that Nativity School received this award only a dozen years after its founding in 1996.

In the photo receiving the award are, left to right, Maria Kelly, Nativity School Principal; an unidentified official from the Department of Education; Melissa Cowden, Nativity School kindergarten teacher and leader of the team that prepared the school’s application; and Roberta Etzel, Assistant Nativity School Principal.

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