FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (7News) — St. Mark Catholic School in Vienna was supposed to get the National Blue Ribbon award this year, but when the Department of Education canceled the program, they were out of luck.

In October, St. Mark's principal Kimberly Parker said they began the process in October 2024 with a preliminary application to the Council for American Private Education.

The National Blue Ribbon award is considered one of the highest honors awarded to schools by the U.S. Department of Education, according to the National Catholic Educational Association.

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Some of that criteria includes test scoring as well as creating positive environments for all students regardless of their learning capabilities.

But, in an Aug. 29 letter to state education chiefs, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it is discontinuing the National Blue Ribbon Schools program, effective immediately, according to the Council for American Private Education (CAPE).

"In the spirit of Returning Education to the States, USED is ending its role in the program," the letter from the Department of Education stated. "State leaders are best positioned to recognize excellence in local schools based on educational achievements that align with their communities’ priorities for academic accomplishment and improvement."

Parker said, despite the award being eliminated, they're going to celebrate anyway and all year round.

"St. Mark Catholic School is full of winners. Our teachers are amazing. Our students are amazing. We don't need a special ribbon from the government to tell us we're amazing. We know we're amazing, and so we're celebrating that we qualified, we won," Parker told 7News.

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"We just celebrated blue ribbon for our school. And even though we didn't actually get it, we still decided to celebrate it," Eli Alexandurow said.

Despite DOE discontinuing the program, officials did say state and associations "are encouraged to recognize their nominees for 2025 and creatively fashion new recognition programs to celebrate excellence in their environments."

"It just feels like a community to me. And our mission statement is to grow in faith, knowledge and service," Alexanduow said.

Students gathered in St. Mark's back field to form a human blue ribbon to kick off the year's events. Parker said the celebration won't stop there as they have Blue Holiday parties and blue-themed end-of-the-year events already planned.

Parker said while there was a lot of work that went into applying, she shed a few tears and kept pushing forward.

"We're winners," she said. "Our faith plays a huge part of who we are. I always remind our students there's a reason that we're called a Catholic school, that Catholic comes before the word school, because that is first and foremost our mission here."

Parker said she was never provided a reason for DOE ending the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program.