Another year, another honor.

Whether it is for being chosen as a Blue Ribbon School or cited as “exemplary” or “recognized” by the Texas Education Agency for its results on the TAKS test, the Skidmore-Tynan Independent School District is no stranger to earning special awards from state and national education officials.

Last week Skidmore-Tynan High School was selected by U.S. News & World Report as one of the top high schools in the nation because of its high test scores.

“What’s really wonderful about this, what’s really exciting was that we didn’t apply for this honor; it wasn’t one of our goals,” Skidmore-Tynan High School Principal Patty Holubec said. “We were just doing what we always do and we were selected.”

She added that the surprise achievement was “validating for our (education) program.”

Schools were researched by a company asked by U.S. News & World Report to compare top high schools in the nation based on certain criteria, such as test scores, dropout rates, attendance rates and how well their minority or economically deprived students fared in school.

Skidmore-Tynan was selected as a bronze medalist in the competition. The report was published in the news magazine’s January edition.

“We would have liked to have been recognized as a gold or silver medalist” but this still is high praise, Holubec noted.

Congratulations to Superintendent Brett Belmarez, Principal Holubec, all the S-T teachers, students, staff and parents. This is quite an achievement for a small, Class 2A district in rural South Texas.

And don’t think this south Bee County ISD is going to rest on its laurels.

Holubec said, “We are Skidmore-Tynan High School. We have great kids. We have an incredible teaching staff which is willing to go that extra mile. We know that all our kids can learn...”

This unexpected honor is a tribute to the entire district which obviously is doing something incredibly right when much of the nation’s education system is failing.