Sister Teresa Ballisty, I.H.M.

By Catholic Philly Staff Report • Posted October 18, 2023

Sister Teresa Ballisty, I.H.M., Principal of Saints Philip and James Parish School in Exton, was named as a recipient of the 2023 Terrel H. Bell Award for Outstanding School Leadership October 16 by the United States Secretary of Education, Miguel A. Cardona.

Sister Teresa is one of nine school leaders from the 2023 cohort of National Blue Ribbon Schools to receive this designation. See a complete list of this year’s award winners.

Named for the second United States Secretary of Education, Terrel H. Bell, the Bell Award honors school leaders who are committed to education as a powerful and liberating force in people’s lives. Principals are nominated by their school communities during the final stages of the National Blue Ribbon Schools application process.

Last month Saint Philip Neri Catholic School in Lafayette Hill, Saint Mary Interparochial School in the Society Hill Section of Philadelphia, and Saints Philip and James School, were selected as part of the 2023 cohort of National Blue Ribbon Schools.

>>>SEE RELATED: Three Archdiocesan Elementary Schools Named 2023 National Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence

The total list of 353 total schools was announced September 19 by the Department of Education. Representatives from the schools will travel to Washington, D.C. November 16 and 17 for the Department of Education’s formal recognition ceremony.

With the addition of the 2023 cohort, Blue Ribbon status has been awarded 51 times to parish and regional elementary schools in the five-county Archdiocese since the program’s inception in 1982. Saint Genevieve Catholic School in Flourtown has received this honor three times (2000, 2006, and 2016), more than any other school in the Archdiocese.