The community of Tremont, Illinois is the first in that state to be part of the Winning Communities certification process and I am very excited about it. We had the first Steering Committee meeting last week and these leaders are very committed to seeing that they will succeed in their efforts. What usually is an organizational session turned out to be a meeting where they saw the possibilities and agreed to meet again this week - a very busy time for all - to prepare to rally the entirity of Tremont to participate in community meetings. They want to make certain that enough pre-community meeting publicity and promotion will maximize their effort.
As an example of how they do things correctly there, I was invited to the awarding ceremony to Tremont High School as they received the coveted "Blue Ribbon" award given by the U. S. Department of Education for excellence. They are the 300th school in the entire country of 120,000 schools to have earned this prestigous award. From the opening rendition of our National Anthem by their Madrigal singers to the celebration luncheon where the administration, teachers, parents, and students all spoke about why they love their school so much and what they are doing to provide continuous improvement, one after the other gave me an indication that this community is indeed unique. They have outstanding leadership that doesn't take being adequate as an accomplishment. They want to be superior and know that it takes hard work to attain it. An impressive thing about this school is that the enrollment is 375. These students are involved and they have the confidence of the parents and teachers.
I know that this attitude is why the Village of Tremont, Illinois will succeed in their quest to become "Certified Winning Community". They will establish their Vison and an Action Plan to get there. It will be my pleaseure to be their partner in their comtinuing success.