A Fort Mill district school is the latest Blue Ribbon Lighthouse School winner
Gold Hill Middle School is the latest area honoree to earn the National Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence designation as a Blue Ribbon Lighthouse School.
The Lighthouse School program involves surveys and a school visit, plus interviews with students, parents and teachers. Schools are graded on a variety of factors from student achievement to school culture. Except for 2020 when only a dozen new schools were named, the program recognizes about 20-40 schools nationally per year plus recertifications of past winners.
“I am so excited for our school,” said principal Stump Eppes. “This is an award that represents all of our staff, our students and our families who make up this amazing place that is Gold Hill Middle School.”
The national designation lasts five years. Schools are then eligible for renewal. Lighthouse schools share best practices to improve education at the local, state and national levels. Gold Hill will be honored at a Dec. 1 event in Orlando, Florida at Disney’s Contemporary Resort.
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Gold Hill Middle joins Doby’s Bridge Elementary School in Fort Mill as a 2023 Lighthouse School winner. Last year, Cherry Park Elementary School of Language Immersion in Rock Hill won the honor. Fort Mill High School was the first area school to win it, in 2021.
Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence is an incorporated school assessment group. It’s different from the National Blue Ribbon Schools program affiliated with the U.S. Department of Education.
The National Blue Ribbon Schools program has a longer list of area honorees that includes Gold Hill Elementary School (2022, 2007), Nation Ford High School (2020), Fort Mill High School (2018, 2004), York Preparatory Academy (2018) and Rock Hill High School (1984).
