Ellsworth Elementary School was awarded the National Blue Ribbon by the United States Department of Education on Sept. 19. Ellsworth was one of 353 schools to earn the award throughout the country and specifically earned it for their high performance.
The Blue Ribbon Award is divided up into two categories, Exemplary High Performing and Exemplary Achievement Gap-Closing. Ellsworth was awarded the former for their performance on state and national assessments during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years.
“It’s such an honor to be able to celebrate as a school community to see the hard work that the students, the teachers and the community and to see everybody kind of all come together to support students, and then to be recognized for that work is just humbling and honoring,” Ellsworth Principal Kim Rutan said.
The award comes at the conclusion of a lengthy application that was capped at 420 nominations from throughout the country.
“Somebody from the state is in charge of nominating, they call you and they ask if you will accept the nomination,” Rutan said. “I had a ton of support from the district to kind of help me with different pieces of [the nomination process].”
Rutan has been Principal of Ellsworth for three years and led the nomination process for the blue ribbon award.
“I think it’s always been a special place even before I got here,” Rutan said. “But in the three years since I’ve been here, it’s been incredible to see us learn and grow together. There have been new things that we’ve done in terms of literacy instruction. I came here and it was the first year that we had a math specialist.”
Rutan will be heading to Washington, D.C. with another representative on Nov. 16 and 17 to accept the award and attend a conference for fellow awardees.
This award is the fourth Blue Ribbon that a school in District 203 has earned in the past year. In 2022, Elmwood, Highlands and Steeple Run Elementary Schools were awarded the Blue Ribbon.
“I think it’s exciting for the whole community to be recognized for their hard work, for the teachers, for our students to be recognized for what they do in the classroom and for our parents,” said Alex Mayster, Executive Director of Communications for District 203.
