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Seneca High School recognized nationally
Second time in as many weeks
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Once again, Seneca High School was nationally recognized as one of the top high schools in the state. Newsweek magazine, as published in the online edition known as The Daily Beast, rated high schools across the nation in terms of college readiness. They published a list of the top 2,000 schools in the nation.  Fifty-five Wisconsin schools made the cut.  On that list of 55, Seneca High School was ranked 33rd, and Prairie du Chien High School was ranked 37th.

In ranking schools, Newsweek analyzed the following items: Percentage of four-year-on-time graduation, percentage of graduates accepted to college, average ACT score, number of AP courses taken per student, percentage of students who took AP tests for college credit and the average score on those AP tests.

One item noted in the list, but not taken into consideration for scoring was the percentage of students on the subsidized lunch program. Only six schools in this list of Wisconsin's top high schools had a subsidized lunch participation rate above 50 percent and Seneca High School was one of them.

Seneca High School is a small school district, with a K-12 population of just under 300 for the 2012-13 school year. Going against the notion that small schools are unable to prepare students for college, Seneca was named by Newsweek as one of the nation's best high schools in terms of college preparedness. Only a few schools on the Wisconsin list have small populations—Seneca is one of the top three in the state.

David Boland, the Seneca School District Administrator, noted the importance of recognition.

"Congratulations again to our students and parents, our staff, and our community!” Boland said. “This is the second time the high school has received national recognition this spring; we were recognized as the tenth best school in Wisconsin by the U.S. News and World Report in April."

Jerry Fiene, the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Rural School Alliance, also lauded the accomplishment of the small school.

"Seneca's high rating for Wisconsin High Schools by Newsweek reflects the high level of achievement attained by their students and the outstanding work the district is doing to ensure students are career or college ready upon graduation,” Feine noted. “This recognition clearly illustrates the great things being accomplished in small, rural schools."