Blue Ribbon

Award Ceremony

On November 5th, Dr. Beynhof (LCHS principal), Mr. Vinchattle (LCHS Assistant Principal) and Dr. Knost (LC Superintendent) were in Washington, D.C., to officially accept the award. You can click here to view their brief time on stage in the video from the US Department of Education.

Original announcement from Dr. Beyenhof

September 22, 2021

U.S. Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, announced today that Lewis Central High School has been named a 2021 National Blue Ribbon School.  LCHS is the only high school in Southwest Iowa to have received the NBRS and one of only two schools in the Hawkeye 10. 
“Being selected as a National Blue Ribbon School is proof that having high expectations yields excellence,” states Dr. Joel Beyenhof, LCHS Principal.  “At LCHS we believe in the three R's for learning for all students: Relationships and Resilience will yield Results.  This award is the result of the hard work of our entire LCHS school community.” 
National Blue Ribbon Schools are on education’s cutting edge, pioneering innovative educational practices from professional learning communities and project-based learning to social and emotional learning and positive behavior systems. Schools are nominated by the state department of education and then complete a comprehensive application about school practices. Schools may be nominated as Exemplary High Performing—among the top schools in a state—or Exemplary Achievement Gap Closing—schools making the fastest progress in their state in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups.
LCHS was nominated as Exemplary High Performing. Collective work has resulted in a steady growth in student achievement and graduation rates from 83.6% in 2011 to 97.8% in 2020 and ranking as one of the highest rated high schools in the state of Iowa based upon the Iowa School Performance Profile.  Through a strong sense of collective efficacy, the staff has worked extremely hard to help every student to be successful by leading with relationships and never being afraid of the conjunction “and” versus an “or” approach to school improvement.  Within this approach staff and students are encouraged and supported in being comfortable with being uncomfortable to improve student achievement.  It is this community approach to cultivating resilience that has resulted in a supportive culture that tackles challenges collectively and has resulted in achieving excellence.  
School officials will represent LCHS at a two-day awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., on November 4-5, where they will hear from other esteemed educators, share best practices with each other, and celebrate their hard-won achievements. For more information about the National Blue Ribbon Schools program, please visit https://nationalblueribbonschools.ed.gov/