EDISON PARK — St. Juliana School was honored as one of the nation’s best Wednesday and named a National Blue Ribbon school by the U.S. Department of Education.
St. Juliana is an "exemplary high-performing school" that represents "excellence — in vision, in implementation and in results," federal officials said.
U.S. Secretary of Education John King said other schools should use the Edison Park school, founded in 1928, as an example of what works.
St. Juliana, 7400 W. Touhy Ave., was one of three Chicago schools to be honored by the federal government.
St. Daniel the Prophet School in Garfield Ridge was also named a Blue Ribbon school, as was Skinner North Elementary School on the Near North Side.
St. Juliana Principal Katrina McDermott will travel to Washington, D.C., to accept the award.
McDermott shared the news with the students and teachers at an all-school assembly.
"We're honored," McDermott said. "It is a testament to the hard work of our students, teachers and staff. "Our kids put the work in. We are very proud."
Jim Rigg, superintendent of the Archdiocese of Chicago's Office of Catholic Schools, said in a statement that schools like St. Juliana have a "celebrated and distinct history of excellence" while helping children develop "academically, spiritually, physically and socially."
Across the country, 329 schools were honored.
In 2015, St. Cornelius School in Jefferson Park was named a Blue Ribbon school. The school was closed by the Archdiocese of Chicago in June as part of a plan to merge the schools of four churches in Jefferson Park, Portage Park and Gladstone Park as part of a "regional" approach to Catholic education in Chicago.
LaSalle Language Academy in Old Town was the other Chicago school to be named a Blue Ribbon School in 2015.
Since 1982, the honor has been awarded to schools that achieve overall academic excellence or progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups, according to the award's website.
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