Rogers school earns highest U.S. education award

Published: October 1, 2015

Alesia Schaefer

St. Vincent de Paul School principal Karla Thielemier (second from left) poses with eighth-graders in front of a banner celebrating the school receiving the U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Award as a High Performing Exemplary School. St. Vincent de Paul School is the fourth non-public school in the state to receive the award in the 34-year history of the award. Joining Thielemier are Natalia Lamson, Ashton Mueller and Yanni Kent.

Alesia Schaefer

St. Vincent de Paul School in Rogers earned a 2015 National Blue Ribbon School along with 334 other schools.

A ceremony for students was held Sept. 29. Another ceremony and celebration will be held Friday, Oct. 2 at 9 a.m. in the school gym. Principal Karla Thielemier, pastor Msgr. David LeSieur, U.S. Sen. John Boozman and Major Greg Hines will be in attendance.

St. Vincent de Paul School was the only private school in the state to get the coveted award this year. In the past two years, two other Catholic schools have earned this award – Immaculate Conception School in Fort Smith in 2013 and St. Joseph School in Fayetteville in 2014.

The award recognizes public and private elementary, middle and high schools where students perform at very high levels or where significant improvements are being made in students’ academic achievement. Since 1982, more than 7,500 schools have received this award. The National Blue Ribbon School award is considered the highest honor an American school can achieve.

St. Vincent de Paul School’s high standardized test scores qualified them to submit a lengthy application to the Council for American Private Education highlighting the school’s operations in areas such as assessments and assessment data, curricula, professional development, leadership and community and family involvement. Once reviewed and approved, CAPE recommended St. Vincent de Paul School to the U.S. Department of Education. St. Vincent de Paul School was chosen based on the criteria of schools whose students are high performing and score at the highest level in both reading and mathematics on nationally-normed tests.

St. Vincent de Paul School has been developing student leaders in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade from Rogers, Bentonville and the surrounding area since 1957. The growth of Wal-Mart, Tyson, JB Hunt and other major employers has brought diversity to the student body. Of the 351 students, 23 percent are Hispanic/Latino, 7 percent are Asian and 2 percent are African-American. The student body also includes Protestants, Hindus and Buddhists. Students hail from several countries, including Dubai, Chile, India, China, Mexico and the Philippines.

The school has consistently ranked in the top 15 percent nationally on standardized tests.
The school has comprehensive personalized math and reading learning progression plans and online science and social studies “techbooks” that adjust to a student’s language and reading abilities.
The staff uses Chromebooks, desktop computers, computer and science labs and smartboards and a computer science curriculum to deliver an interactive and personalized education.
New school families are partnered with “mentor families” to help them throughout the first year.
Students are committed to service, collecting food for the parish food pantry and donating money to support 12 sister schools in Bombardopolis, Haiti.
Affordable Catholic school education is possible through church subsidies, the endowment fund and tuition assistance.