Winterville rose to the top of a list of all charter, private, and non-traditional schools in the county, which includes the county seat of Greenville. Nearly 140,000 votes were tallied in support of Pitt County businesses that support the community.
“We were categorized in the competition with the private non-traditional choices, so to beat out those private schools and non-traditional options tells us that a free and valued educational option is so important to families,” Principal Ryan said. “When we keep our kiddos, we grow them, protect them, and prepare them. We couldn’t be more proud. It’s a big confidence booster.”
Winterville Charter Academy Principal Annastasia Ryan and Dean of Lower Elementary Sofia Sourgiadakis-Baklarz accepted the award.
This recognition only adds to the good news for Winterville, which has outperformed the local district for the past four years. The school also received a 2023 Eagle Award from National Heritage Academies, because it ranked in the top 10% of all NHA partner-schools with the lowest percentage of chronic absenteeism.
“It is a validation of years of hard work,” Ryan said. “We have dedicated a lot of intentional effort to allow for choice in education in the eastern part of North Carolina. WCA is not only in its 9th year and having received a 10-year charter renewal three years ago, but we are caring for our scholars in a way that the community now respects and values.”
Ryan said that means everything to the staff at the school because their desire to serve the community has never been higher.
The “Best Charter School of 2023” in Pitt County, North Carolina award by news service The Daily Reflector.
“Not only do we want to be the school of choice for families, we want to continue to outperform the majority of the surrounding county schools. We want to educate our families about what the school/parent partnership truly means in an effort to create lasting change in our children's futures. We are getting our families invested and involved in the work that is needed to motivate our learners to come to school and to get the high degree of education that they deserve.”
Awesome work supporting your community, Winterville!
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About Winterville Charter Academy:
Winterville Charter Academy is a tuition-free, public charter school in Winterville, North Carolina, serving students in kindergarten through eighth grade. It is part of the National Heritage Academies network, which includes over 100 tuition-free, public charter schools serving more than 65,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade across nine states. For more information, visit nhaschools.com.
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