Blue Ribbon Celebrations Continue At St Rose School

This past week St Rose of Lima School Principal Mary Maloney and Monsignor Robert Weiss traveled to Washington, D.C., to accept the official award naming the school as a 2009 Blue Ribbon Award recipient.

The United States Department of Education announced on Tuesday, September 15, that the school was one of five Catholic elementary schools of the Diocese of Bridgeport to be named a 2009 Blue Ribbon School.

Only 314 elementary schools — public and private — in the United States have received this honor, including only eight this year in the State of Connecticut. This is the highest national honor that a school can receive.

Just a day after learning of the award, Mrs Maloney said the achievement is an affirmation for all the teachers and students at the school. Monsignor Weiss pointed out at the time that the achievement was made possible by many people over the course of the school’s 51 years.

There have been multiple celebrations at St Rose of Lima since learning of the school’s achievement,

On September 30, a double celebration for Monsignor Weiss’s birthday and for the Blue Ribbon Award was held by sharing 500 blue cupcakes with students.

On Tuesday, November 3, Monsignor Weiss and Mrs Maloney accepted the award from US Department of Education Blue Ribbon Program Director Aba Kumi in Washington, D.C., during an awards ceremony at the Omni Shoreham Hotel,.

Since last week’s acceptance, a large blue ribbon has been placed on the outside of the school, Deputy Catholic School Superintendent for the Diocese of Bridgeport John Cook visited St Rose of Lima School to serve blue ice cream to students on Friday, November 6, and a number of students came together with Mrs Maloney and Monsignor Weiss for a photo in front of the school on Tuesday, November 10. 

St Rose will also be celebrating the accomplishment with a private reception on Saturday, November 14.