Due to its overall academic excellence, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the Valley's own Xavier College Preparatory as a National Blue Ribbon School. It is the highest national accolade possible for an educational institution and the third time in school history that Xavier has received this recognition. (Xavier is the only high school in the Phoenix area - private, public or charter - to earn the National Blue Ribbon School distinction this year, and one of only 53 high schools selected from across the nation.)

"I am both humbled and so very proud of the administration, faculty, staff, students, alumnae, parents and community members who have helped to build Xavier College Preparatory into the outstanding school that it is today," says Xavier principal Sister Joan Fitzgerald, BVM, who recently celebrated her 50th anniversary at the school. Sister Fitzgerald is a two-time Best of Our Valley winner for Most Influential in Valley Education. Congrats, Xavier students and staff!