secondaryawardees - National Catholic Educational Association

NCEA's Department of Secondary Schools Awards

Every Year at the NCEA Convention & Exposition, the Secondary Schools Department honors outstanding Catholic secondary school educators during the Department's Award Convocation. The Department honors Catholic school educators who deserve national recognition and reflect the richness and diversity of American Catholic education. You are encouraged to consider nominees who have made significant contributions in a variety of roles including administrators, faculty, staff, board leadership and athletic and co-curricular advisors.

Online Nomination Form

Printable Nomination Form

2012 Secondary Schools Department Awardees

Deacon James V. Adams President Chaminade College Preparatory	Roger Auer Director of Campus Ministry Elder High School	Marco J. Clark President and CEO Bishop McNamara High School
Theresa E. Dougall President Bishop Stang High School	Sr. Adele Lambert, CSJ President St. Joseph's Academy	Eileen O' Rourke History Department Chairperson Academy of St. Elizabeth

	2012 Michael J. Guerra Leadership Award Recipient (Posthumously Awarded)

	Br. Michael Collins, FSC (1937-2012) President DeLaSalle High School

This year's awards were presented at the NCEA Convention in Boston, April 11-13, 2012

***Individuals who are selected to receive the award must be willing and able to attend the convention to receive and be recognized for the award.

Congratulations to the 2011 winners listed below.

Rev Robert Carroll, OCarm Salpointe Catholic High School, Tuscon, AZ	Beth Ann Simno, Vice President/Vice Principal Mount Carmel Academy, New Orleans, LA
William Hambleton, President La Salle Academy, NY, NY	Patrick Smith, English Faculty/Director of Admissions DeMatha Catholic High School, Hyattsville, MD
Rick Martin, Director of Campus Ministry Marist Catholic High School, Eugene, OR	Margaret Williamson, Principal/Chief Admistrator Northwest Catholic High School, Hartford, CT
Donald Nitti, Math Instructor Cotter High School, Winona, MN

Learn More of their Inspiring Stories Here in our Department Awards Convocation Program!

Congratulations to the 2010 winners listed below.

John Combes, Band Director Notre Dame High School, Sherman Oaks, CA	Tom Keating, Principal Xavier High School, Cedar Rapids, IA
Thomas Wm. Fay, Religion Teacher St. Mary’s High School, Lancaster, NY	Joy Lopez, Director of Instructional Technology Bishop O’Dowd High School, Oakland, CA
Fr. Gordon Gilsdorf, English Teacher Notre Dame de la Baie Academy, Green Bay, WI	Sr. Marion O’Connor, O.P., Social Studies and Religion Teacher Regina Dominican High School, Wilmette, IL

Learn More of their Inspiring Stories Here in our Department Awards Convocation Program!

(2009 Awardees)

The Michael J. Guerra Leadership Award

Instituted by the Secondary Schools Department’s Executive Committee of the National Catholic Educational Association, the award honors Michael Guerra, the NCEA Secondary Schools Department’s Executive Director from 1982 to 2001. This national award, launched at the NCEA convention in 2001, recognizes Michael Guerra’s vision, his leadership and his extraordinary commitment to the mission of Catholic secondary school education. The Award serves to advance this vision as it acclaims the significant contributions of a selected educator.

The MJG Leadership Award is bestowed annually at the NCEA convention to an educator whose impact on Catholic Secondary Schools will have a distinctive and lasting impact.

Nominees are selected according to the following criteria:

Outstanding service to Catholic secondary school(s);
Local and/or national contribution having a long-term impact;
Capacity to serve as an articulate spokesperson for/on behalf of Catholic Secondary Schools.

Selection of the recipent is made by the Executive Committee of the Department of Secondary Schools.

2010 Michael J. Guerra Leadership Awardee

Dan McKinley
President & CEO
PAVE

U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Schools

The No Child Left Behind - Blue Ribbon Schools Program honors public and private K-12 schools that are either academically superior in their states or demonstrate dramatic gains in student achievement. Blue Ribbon recipients will be national models of excellence that others can learn from.

Two Catholic high schools were recipients of this year's recognition. Congratulations to the administrators, faculty, staff, students and parents of Saint Viator High School in Arlington Heights, Illinois and Aquinas High School in LaCrosse, Wisconsin.

U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige established the No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon Schools Program to honor elementary and secondary schools in the United States that make significant progress in closing achievement gaps or who demonstrate outstanding achiecement. The No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon Schools Program is the successor to the Blue Ribbon Schools Program.

Since 1983, when private schools were first included in the program, 247 Catholic secondary schools have been honored with this distinction, with a grand total of 317 instances of recognition. This figure takes into consideration the 44 schools that received the award twice, the 12 schools that have received the award three times, and one school that received the award four times.

The program recognizes elementary and secondary schools that meet either of two assesment criteria: schools that have at least 40 percent of their students come from disadvantaged backgrounds and dramatically improve these students' performances on national or state addesments as well as schools ranked in the top 10 percent of the nation (as measured by standardized national assessments) or the state (as measured by standardized state assessments)

For those interested in learning more about and applying for this prestigious award, visit the CAPE (Concil for American Private Education) website at www.capenet.org/brs.html.