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Singing the Blue Ribbon

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First Street Elementary Principal Shannon Balch and Canon-McMillan School District Superintendant Michael Daniels show off the National Blue Ribbon School banner the school was awarded for being one of the top schools in the country recently. A student assembly was held Friday with larea dignitaries honoring the school and its students for their achievement.

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Students gathered in the First Street Elementary gymnasium Friday for a celebration of the school’s Blue Ribbon award.

CANONSBURG – First Street Elementary received the National Blue Ribbon School award in 2007 for closing the achievement gap among its students. In September, the school again received the award, this time for exemplary achievement in the elementary school.

Students, administrators and local dignitaries gathered in the school’s gymnasium Friday to celebrate once again receiving national recognition for outstanding performance.

“People want to move here, live here and go to this school district because of you,” said state Rep. Brandon Neuman, D-Canonsburg, to the roughly 300 students enrolled at the school.

“You’ve made Canonsburg a place where people want to be. You are the heart of our community,” said Neuman, himself a Canon-McMillan graduate in 2000.

First Street Elementary was the only school in Washington County, other than Bentworth High School, to receive the Blue Ribbon award in 2015. Bentworth was acknowledged for closing the achievement gap among 362 enrolled students. The schools are among 13 recognized in the state and 330 across the nation. Schools that receive the “Exemplary High Performing School” designation – as First Street did – must be in the top 15 percent of ranked schools just to be eligible.

“You’re better than 97 percent of the other schools out there,” said school Director Paul Scarmazzi.

“This building was built in 1924, and the age or condition of the facilities has never been an excuse to achieve what you have here,” Scarmazzi said, alluding to the eventual move of students to the new Muse Elementary School in 2017.

Before Canonsburg Mayor Dave Rhome and Neuman presented proclamations acknowledging the students’ achievement, the youngsters watched a 10-minute video. They laughed and high-fived each other as they recognized themselves, their peers and their teachers’ testimonials about them.

“The teachers are always nice; they always greet us; they let us have fun and they help us,” said the kids in the video.

Washington County Commissioner Harlan Shober said he knows as a former school board member how hard it is to get things into place for such recognition to happen.

“This starts with the school board. Things like this don’t just happen by themselves. This reflects on everyone, starting with the board down to the administration, and, of course, the teachers and the students,” Shober said.

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