For the fourth consecutive year, Bishop T.K. Gorman Catholic School has been named one of the top 50 Catholic high schools in the country.

Gorman is one of only 11 Catholic high schools in the U.S. to be chosen for four years in a row to the Catholic High School Honor Roll, according to a prepared statement.

“Being selected for the fourth year in a row is a strong acknowledgement of a lot of good things that happen at Gorman,” Gorman Principal Jim Franz said. “Out of 1,300 Catholic high schools in the United States, simply being in the top 50 at some point in time is an honor and a distinction.”

The Honor Roll is an annual list of the top 50 Catholic high schools in the country. Schools are examined on the criteria of academic excellence, Catholic identity and civic education, according to a prepared statement.

“Maintaining that recognition for the four years that the Honor Roll has been published … is a strong affirmation of the vitality of the faith community in the school, the significance of the civic education and the importance of developing critical thinking skills in students,” Franz said.

“Our job as a Catholic school is to prepare students for the world. We understand we have an obligation to prepare them well academically. But that is definitely not enough. Providing students with the spiritual, moral, ethical framework within which to use knowledge is the most important component of a Catholic school education.”

Gorman students Jeff Klein and Kelsey Deal were not surprised to hear that their school ranks among the top in the nation.

“When I do college applications and they ask, ‘how do you think you’re going to deal with student life and homework as a college student,’ I kind of think about it, and I realize that I’d be perfectly prepared because spiritually, academically, Gorman prepares you for that because of its rigorous academics (and) its environment of spirituality,” Klein, Gorman’s student body president, said.

Kelsey, one of the junior class presidents at Gorman, said the coursework at Gorman is in-depth and challenging, but noted that there’s more to it than just that.

“On top of the academics and athletics, you get a chance to grow in your faith as well because we go to mass every week and have regular contact with priests and prayer every morning,” she said.

Klein said to have this recognition four times in a row is a honor and “puts a point on the map for T.K. Gorman to let people know if you want to go to a good Catholic school in Texas, go to East Texas, and there’s T.K. Gorman.”

Both students said they are excited about the recognition, particularly as a reward for the teachers, who they said work hard, go the extra mile and challenge the students.

Lisa Breedlove, a Gorman alumnus who teaches sixth, eighth and ninth grade math, also said she was not surprised by the school’s recognition.

“I can see as a teacher now how far we’ve come from where we were,” Ms. Breedlove said. “We were great then, but we are awesome now. Our curriculum is so much stronger. Our leadership is just fabulous.”

She also touted the Christian, family-oriented atmosphere of the school.

“We have families that are the heartbeat of our school, and without them, we couldn’t do what we do,” she said. “I think that’s part of what’s made us grow so much is the family involvement. I think that’s helped us quite a bit in achieving what we’ve been able to achieve.”

Ms. Breedlove, who also has children who attend the school, said she is excited about the recognition, but it doesn’t change anything that she knew about Gorman.

“I know I would never want to teach anywhere else,” she said. “We’re not going to change anything that we do because of this, but, for me, it means I made the right decision.”

The Most Rev. Alvaro Corrada de Rio, S.J., bishop of the Diocese of Tyler, said in a prepared statement that Gorman is a “jewel in the Diocese of Tyler.”

“The teachers are passionate in the ministry of education and the values of Catholicism,” Corrada said. “From morning announcements through daily class schedules and carried on with the final departure of the day, it is evident the reality and vitality of making Jesus known.”

Dr. Charles LeBlanc, the superintendent of Catholic schools for the Diocese of Tyler and Dallas, congratulated Franz and the entire Gorman team for the work they do for families and the community in Tyler.

“The administration, the staff at T.K. Gorman lives its passion and its interest and support for youngsters to become everything they can become,” Dr. LeBlanc said. “So, from my perspective, the award was not a surprise but an affirmation.”

The Honor Roll is a project of the Acton Institute, an international research and educational organization. It is produced in consultation with a national advisory board made up of Catholic college presidents and noted Catholic scholars, according to the statement.

Texas led the list with six schools selected, followed by California with five schools. Overall, 25 states are represented on the Honor Roll.