Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart is among an elite group of 317 public and 50 private schools recognized by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos as a National Blue Ribbon School for 2020. This coveted award is based on a school's overall academic performance. "Congratulations to this year’s National Blue Ribbon School awardees,” DeVos said. “It’s a privilege to recognize the extraordinary work you do to meet students’ needs and prepare them for successful careers and meaningful lives.” Now in its 38th year, this U. S. Department of Education program seeks out and celebrates great American schools demonstrating that all students can achieve to high levels. 

In the spirit of Sacred Heart schools’ Goal III (a social awareness which impels to action), community service has always been an integral part of a Woodlands Academy education. The novel coronavirus pandemic, among other things, has given students opportunities to help others in ways that could not have been imagined as the 2019-20 school year began. One example of this is the work of several Woodlands Academy students and three 2020 graduates over the summer. They assembled 2,200 face shields that were donated to The Mission of Our Lady of Angels in Chicago, a small hospital in California, the Illinois PPE Network and Woodlands Academy. The face shield kits were provided at cost by a company owned by the Randolph family whose daughters Eleanor and Helen graduated from Woodlands in 2016 and 2017.

The Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart community celebrated its multicultural makeup during the annual Flag Ceremony and prayer service Friday, Sept. 11. There were some changes due to the many COVID-19 protocols governing the resumption of in-person classroom learning just two weeks earlier. For one thing, only program participants were allowed in the school’s chapel during the ceremony. Spectators, typically seated in the pews, instead watched remotely via Zoom from their classrooms, offices and homes.