A Conversation with President Earsing and Principal Garrison on Monumental Recognition

Reaching the pinnacle of academic achievement, Jesuit has officially received recognition as a National Blue Ribbon School. This validates the school’s excellence through an acute review process of the school’s graduation rates and test scores, both of which Jesuit Dallas bolsters tremendous results. The National Blue Ribbon Schools website directly acknowledges the school’s incredible emphasis on  “academic excellence and intellectual challenge(s)” while also commending our teacher’s remarkable ability to form “well-rounded” young men. 

I recently had the opportunity to meet with Tom Garrison ’92, current principal of Jesuit Dallas, and President Mike Earsing to discuss their opinions on the impressive distinction.

“If you look at ACT, SAT, and PSAT scores our guys as Juniors are defined as college ready by all the metrics that are out there”  -President Mike Earsing

Interview with Principal Garrison

Could you explain the process of receiving this recognition?

Yes, there is an application process. Dr. Kirby and Mrs. O’Sullivan took the lead, making sure it was done. Ms. Roe helped make sure it was all tied together. When you have applications put together over a long period by a group of people, it starts to sound like a jumble. That’s why it’s helpful to have a good editor making sure everything is in one voice.

Are there any specific aspects of our school that led to this distinction?

Well, I think for me, I’m very happy that we’re being recognized for academic achievement. It’s easy to look at us and think about our extracurriculars. Sometimes people look at us and don’t remember all the academics that are at the heart of what’s going on here. This is about academic achievement and success that is measurable.

Is it rare for a private school to win this?

That’s hard for me to say I’d have to research it a little more. What’s going to happen is in November we’re going to Washington D.C. to receive the award. There is a two-day series of workshops. It will go over some of the histories of the award.

It does seem to be something that Catholic schools are interested in. It’s a way to validate the work that’s being done in the schools. One of the neat things for us is that we tried to keep forward progress during the pandemic and this is just one piece of that puzzle.

What does this award mean to you in terms of how much effort our teachers and administrators have put into the school?

There are over a hundred teachers here. There’s a great administration with great leadership. I think the word again is validation. One of the challenges for private schools is that when you look at a large public school system they have a lot of checks and balances. They use a lot of standardized tests and a lot of metrics that are used across the state. Private schools have to use other ways to measure success. Like National Merit Scholars, PSAT scores, SAT scores, act scores, and college admissions.

“This recognition is special because it’s an outside entity looking in and saying yes they are successful academically.”  – Principal Tom Garrison ’92

It’s a nice thing because I can say we’re doing a good job all day long but it would be fair to assume I might have some bias. This is an outside organization that doesn’t have anything to do with us per se. 

Our first Blue Ribbon award came when you were a Junior at Jesuit. How does it feel that you’ve come full circle?

It’s funny I hadn’t thought of it that way. I think when I was a student I didn’t pay much attention to it. That was 1991 and I was 17. I don’t think it was that important to me at the time. I think I knew I was getting a good education here and I wasn’t too worried about it. It is a neat full-circle moment. The difference for me now is that I understand what goes into the process of applying for it. The school is a very different place. I believe it’s a better place.

Interview with President Earsing

Could you briefly explain the Blue Ribbon Award and its requirements?

There’s an application procedure and it takes a while to fill out. You send in all the metrics that they’re asking for. The idea is that it represents about 15% of the schools in the United States.

If you look at ACT, SAT, and PSAT scores our guys as Juniors are defined as college ready by all the metrics that are out there. I don’t want to give you guys that knowledge because you’d be out there saying I don’t have to go to senior year I’m done.

One of the challenges that the Blue Ribbon school does open up through the application is that they like to look at the broader spectrum of students. One of the criteria sometimes is how you bring up the low-performing students and bring them up to this level.

We’re unique in a lot of ways. We can have as many national merits or more than a lot of schools in Dallas. Then you can say yeah well doesn’t Cistercian do well too? Yes, they do a great job but you’re talking about 40-45 guys that are all 90th percentiles. We don’t take all 90 percentiles.

Here we have a good section of guys like that, but we also have sections of guys that come from very under-resourced schools and they have to peddle hard to do well here. We get them ready for college and they’re doing well and I’m proud of that fact. In some ways, that’s more life-changing than guys that are already at the 90th percentile.

How do you feel that this award relates to the effort that the administration and faculty have worked to improve our school?

“Jesuit Dallas is based on the relationship between the teachers and the students” – President Mike Earsing

We always take into consideration the current climate. There’s an Ignatian prayer and part of it says help me read the signs of the times. I think for me and the rest of the administration, reading the signs of the times was how do we integrate technology into the school. everyone was going crazy for a while. Saying we won’t need teachers anymore, all you need is a computer and that’s it. Our response was no. Putting both together really is the best way to do that and I think we saw that.

The Blue Ribbon website acknowledges that our success in returning to school last year was a large part of achieving this recognition. How does it feel looking back that our aggressive stance paid off in the end?

I think this is really interesting. I go back to sort of that Ignatian balance point. You have people on both sides of the issue. We tried to take a reasonable approach. I think we recognized that because we are a relationship school not having guys together was not the best answer but we also had to do it safely.

Do you think there are any long-term effects stemming from this recognition?

There’s a question always with Jesuit. We have one of the most effective social media outputs of any school in the country. I ask what good does it do? The one thing that I’d say that it does is it means more goodwill that people know about the school. If you don’t know anything about Jesuit but you have a 3rd-grade kid who sees this and says he wants to learn more about Jesuit. Then you’re interested in that and you find out more about the school. That’s the goodwill.

Then, the idea that people look to you and say: you go to Jesuit, I know that’s a good school. Getting Jesuit Dallas out as a Blue Ribbon just puts us in the news in a positive way and I think that’s always a positive. There’s a long-term good that comes out of being a recognized school. Sometimes we get a little myopic, we think that everyone knows about Jesuit and the reality is not everyone knows about Jesuit even in Dallas. 

Is there anything you’d like the student body to know about this and what it means?

Just that I’m proud of you guys. I think it’s good to have that bar high for you guys but it’s like we want you guys to have the community service of Mother Teresa, the intellectual capacity of Einstein, and the physical ability of a Heisman Trophy winner. You guys rise to that occasion. It’s a challenging bar. 

Jesuit’s recognition as a National Blue Ribbon school emphasizes the educational value that lies in a Jesuit College Preparatory diploma. It serves to establish Dallas Jesuit as a model for others seeking to reach a high level of academic and extracurricular excellence. Finally, the distinction exhibits the faculty’s tireless dedication to furthering the education of the students. As well as the intellectual capacity of the student body.

A big thanks to Principal Garrison and President Earsing for allowing me to meet with them and congratulations to all members of Dallas Jesuit on this distinction. Stay tuned to The Roundup for more news regarding student news.