Fayette

County High School has been named a National Blue

Ribbon School of Excellence, becoming one of an

elite list of the best schools in the United

States.

"We're

very excited," said Gary Phillips, principal

of Fayette's oldest high school, who phoned

newspapers Monday morning fairly bursting with

the news. "We passed every test as they came

along, and at each level we were more and more

hopeful, but you just never know," he said.

Before

being named a Blue Ribbon school, FCHS was named

a Georgia School of Excellence under a program of

the state Department of Education.

Being

a School of Excellence is not a prerequisite to

being nominated for the Blue Ribbon program, but

it's rare for schools to be nominated for the

national program without first receiving the

state award.

If

a school becomes one of the few nominated for the

Blue Ribbon program, a two-day review is

conducted by representatives of the U.S.

Department of Education, who talk to students,

teachers, parents, the principal and central

office staff in addition to reviewing the

school's facilities, curriculum, test scores,

extracurricular activities and other aspects of

the school.

After

a thorough review, the information is passed on

to a committee that decides which schools will

receive the award.

"It's

largely based on the performance of your

students," said Phillips.

And

students at FCHS have performed.

The

school's Beta Club has more than 120 members, who

have met national academic and citizenship

criteria.

Sixty-two

graduating seniors at FCHS are in the National

Honor Society, which requires grades of 93

percent or higher, and the senior class boasts

134 honor graduates, more than 25 percent of the

total.

Graduates

this year will receive about $2 million in

scholarships, said Phillips, who added that the

school also has two military academy appointees

as well as numerous Presidential Scholars.

Students

will take scholarships to universities like

Georgia Tech, Emory and the University of

Georgia, as well as such prestigious institutions

as Harvard.

In

the school's evaluation, Phillips said, it

received especially high marks for its advanced

placement program, in which students take college

level classes at FCHS and then take proficiency

tests to determine whether they can receive

college credit.

Eighty-two

percent of FCHS's advanced placement students

received college credit this year, compared to a

national average of 55 percent. The school's

students also scored above national averages on

SATs and the state-mandated high school

graduates' test.

Continuing

education programs for the teachers also helps,

and so does having a variety of opportunities for

students, such as sports, band and other fine

arts programs.

The

school has won recent state awards, and its

teachers have won accolades as well, said

Phillips.

"This

shows that we are a strong, well-rounded

school," he said. "We're all over the

map in being able to show excellence in a variety

of areas.

"We're

very proud of them," said Fayette

superintendent of school Dr. John DeCotis.

"It's something they've been working hard on

for many years and it paid off," he said.

Although

one school at each level in each congressional

district can be a Georgia School of Excellence,

only one or two schools from the state go on to

be reviewed for the Blue Ribbon program, he said.

Only

one other Fayette school, Flat Rock Middle, has

ever received the designation.

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