We’re impressed — very impressed! Boothbay Region High School ranked ninth in Maine on U.S News and World Report’s list of Best Schools. Out of the top 10, BRHS was the only small school to earn the honor. To determine rankings, schools are judged on their teacher/student ratio, test scores and Advance Placement (AP) college readiness index, which takes into consideration the percentage of students taking AP college level courses. We came in with a 39 percent participation, which we feel is an excellent showing.

What is deserving of special mention is that all of the other top 10 Maine schools were much larger than BRHS. Yarmouth, which earned the top spot, has 485 students, while second-ranked Falmouth has 732 students, third place Cape Elizabeth has 539, Wells has 423, Brewer 384, Camden Hills 629, York 685 and 10th-ranked Bangor has 1,126. It’s quite a feather in our cap that with only 180 students, we managed to glean ninth place.

In the teacher/student radio, we also looked very good, with a 9:1 ratio. Only 16th-ranked Mt. Desert Island and 5th-ranked Brewer had lower teacher/student ratios with 8:1. Number one ranked Yarmouth maintains a 12:1 ratio with 485 students and 42 teachers, while number two Falmouth has the same ratio with 782 students and 63 teachers. Our AP test scores were right up there with Camden and York’s. Our ninth place scoring finish earned us a silver medal in the standings.

We’re convinced that bigger isn’t necessarily better and will always believe that smaller schools provide better education for students in the long run. We may not have the biggest gymnasium or largest library, best furnished classrooms or newest equipment, but when we’ve got the best teachers and staff, we have what it takes to turn out top-notch students.

Smaller schools like ours tend to have stronger parent and community involvement which, in our opinion, gives us an edge. We’re proud that our area still has two small elementary schools, Edgecomb and Southport, sending off well-prepared students to our high school. All of our schools remain near and dear to the hearts of area residents, who support them not only financially, but by attending a wide variety of school and after-school functions.

We hope our amazing finish in the U.S. News and World Report survey sends a message that students don’t need to go to a larger, private, high school to get a first-rate education if they apply themselves. Unfortunately, in recent years, we’ve lost a lot of students once they get to the secondary level, which is sad, because we feel very strongly that BRHS is dedicated to preparing its graduates for college or whatever path they choose to follow after high school.

Congratulations, students, parents, teachers and the entire staff at BRHS for making us all very proud.