NEW SCOTLAND — Clayton A. Bouton High School was named an Exemplary High Performing National Blue Ribbon School by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.
The Voorheesville school was among 367 schools across the nation to earn the distinction, and one of nine schools from New York to be recognized in 2020.
This is the second time since 1982 Clayton A. Bouton earned the award. The school first earned the distinction in 1991.
The high school could boast a 99 percent graduation rate in 2019. Of those graduates, 97 percent earned Regents diplomas while 63 percent earned Advanced Regents.
“Our students’ success is a tribute to the entire, positive, supportive Voorheesville learning community that fosters close, trusting relationships which create a safe, caring environment for personal growth and intellectual development throughout their school years,” the district stated on its profile to the Department of Education. “Voorheesville schools are deeply intertwined with and supported by the Voorheesville community. Everyone at Clayton A. Bouton High School develops partnerships with families and the community to maximize students’ achievement.”
Clayton A. Bouton High School offers a broad range of co-curricular activities to support the engagement of its student body.
- Approximately sixty five percent of high school students participate in interscholastic athletics.
- Students populate ten different athletic teams in the fall season alone and contribute to more than two dozen different high school clubs and organizations within the school community.
- the Science Olympiad Team won best small school in the region for the last two years;
- the Model United Nations team wins honors at national and international competitions alike; and
- the Mock Trial Team advanced to the semifinals before the coronavirus closure.
“Our clubs reflect a broad range of interests from leadership-driven groups such as class councils to civic and socially focused groups such as Sources of Strength and Sexuality And Gender Alliance,” stated school officials. “Our students’ musical and theatrical achievement is unparalleled in a school this small.”
Voorheesville also named non-traditional graduation requirements;
- high school students are required to pass a career and financial management course and to complete a minimum of fifteen hours of volunteer service in the senior year.
- Many graduates can start college as sophomores due to the college coursework in which they have engaged throughout high school.
- Voorheesville has a newly established partnership with Siena College whereby, if students follow a certain course of study at the high school level, they gain automatic acceptance in the business program at Siena College.
“We are humbled and grateful to our outstanding students and faculty who continue to strive for excellence,” the district stated on its website last week.
