When the staff and students at Christ the King School in Beverly received word that they had earned a U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Award on Sept. 16, it was a victory for the whole community, said principal Ann Marie Riordan.

“We have an incredible community and this is an award that reflects that,” said Riordan, who set a goal of achieving a Blue Ribbon Award shortly after taking her position nine years ago. “We have a super supportive parish; we have so many parishioners whose kids are grown and gone and are still supporting us. Our teachers are so committed and I really wanted them to be recognized.”

The National Blue Ribbon Award is presented to a school based on its overall academic excellence or progress in closing student achievement gaps. Catholic schools in the archdiocese have received 120 Blue Ribbon Awards. 

“We are very proud of Christ the King School community for receiving this coveted award,” said Greg Richmond, superintendent of Archdiocese of Chicago Catholic Schools. “I congratulate the school’s administration, educators and staff for their unwavering dedication to their students and their families.”

Christ the King School was recognized under the category of “Exemplary High Performing Schools,” meaning the schools are among the state’s highest performing schools as measured by state assessments or nationally normed tests. This is the school’s first time being recognized with a National Blue Ribbon Award.

Riordan will join leaders from all 297 schools across the country that were honored this year when she officially accepts the award in November in Washington, D.C. Seventeen schools in Illinois were honored this year; of those, Christ the King was the only non-public school and the only school in Chicago.

The school, 9240 S. Hoyne Ave., has 414 students in preschool through eighth grade.

It has several families with parents who graduated there and then moved back into the neighborhood so their children could attend the same school.

“I am still best friends with my best friends that I met at Christ the King in first grade,” said Maureen McClelland, who graduated from eighth grade in 1994. Now her three children attend school there, in grades four, five and six, and when she was planning a first Communion for one of them under COVID-19 restrictions, the parish had to have a Mass just for her family. All 17 members who attended Christ the King wanted to come.

McClelland, who now lives next door to the school, is a school counselor and therapist and is a social-emotional consultant for Christ the King.

One thing that sets it apart, she said, is a culture of support fostered by Riordan and Father Larry Sullivan, the pastor of Christ the King Parish.

“It’s all about supporting people to be their best,” McClelland said. “You don’t do that by criticizing. You give them the support they need to succeed. … That is something that Dr. Riordan does especially well. She deals with the whole child. Her approach to educating the whole child is what separates CK from other places.

Mark Singler, who graduated from Christ the King in 1991, said that he enjoyed his time there and purposely moved back into the neighborhood before the oldest of his four children started kindergarten. Things have changed in some ways, though.

“We had a nun as a principal. We had a number of nuns who were teachers,” said Singler, whose oldest child graduated this past spring. He now has children in second, fifth and seventh grades. “It was old school, and I liked that. But the learning environment has really changed. Teaching methods have changed. Technology is a huge advantage.”

Margot Holland, who graduated in 1990, said that when she attended, the school did not have a gym. Her children — two Christ the King graduates and a seventh grader — got to use one of the nicest Catholic school gyms in the area.

“Aside from the facilities being updated and modern, Christ the King has been able to become a more modern academic experience through social-emotional learning,” Holland said. “They have a lot of student support. My kids are just so prepared and love learning so much.”

The parents all credited the leadership of Riordan and Sullivan for the school’s success.

“They are like the dynamic duo,” Singler said. “They work well together; they support each other. She’s an absolute fearless leader, she’s smart and she’s proactive. She’s respectful of all opinions, she’s patient and she creates an exciting learning environment.”

“With or without a Blue Ribbon designation, CK is such a special place,” Holland said. “I hope that other schools can really see that the partnership between the pastor and the principal, embracing the Catholic faith along with academics, is what really brings that excellence.”

Riordan said getting the award was not easy; to be recognized as a high-achieving school, student test scores have to be within the top 15 percent nationally. This was the fifth year Christ the King applied; in each previous year, the school came close, but did not quite make it.

“It would be something like all of the grades would have the scores, except for one, that would be just a point or two too low,” Riordan said. “We do not believe in teaching to the test. We just know that if we put good practices into place, good results will follow and it finally paid off.”