Year after year after year, it never seems to get any easier for Morgan Academy, says the school’s headmaster Dr. Christopher deBuzna. Somehow, though, the school always manages to stay one step ahead of the competition.

The Alabama Independent School Association once again recognized Morgan Academy as the State’s best 3A school in academics by presenting them with the President’s Award, an award which honors the top schools overall academic performance over the past school year.

Morgan has captured the award 11 times since 1991.

deBuzna, who has been headmaster at the school for the past 17 years, attributed the school’s long-term success to not only hard work on the part of parents, teachers and students, but also a competitive spirit rarely found at other schools.

“We want our students to be the best, and students who come here expect to be the best,” said deBuzna. “That’s really the difference between us and a lot of other schools.”

To be selected as the top school, certain criteria must be met.

The criteria include such things as the number of graduates accepted to college; accreditation status; professional staff qualifications; number of victories earned during academic competition; and the number of academic scholars for the current year.

The list, said deBuzna, seems to grow longer and longer every year.

“Every year, it just seems to get harder to meet all the requirements,” he said. “But every year, our parents, teachers and students have all worked together to make this happen.”

Said deBuzna, “This is not an award for just a select few of our best and brightest students. This is an award that belongs to all of our students. And that’s one of the big reasons why we are so proud of this award.”

Besides being able to credit almost all his students with putting their best foot forward for the year, there is one other thing which makes deBuzna even more proud.

The runner-up for the award, Tuscaloosa Academy, charges higher tuition than Morgan.

“We are competing against schools that are of much greater size, and have more resources, yet we seem to win this award year after year,” he said.

How does Morgan do it?

“We hire the best people we possibly can,” said deBuzna. “That is the key to making this school successful. And year after year, we have managed to do it.”

Added deBuzna, “Although it may be getting harder every year, we will continue to make our students feel the need to be the best. This is what has made us successful and what will continue to make us successful.”

cutline: Dr. Christopher deBuzna, headmaster at Morgan Academy, holds the President’s Award, an award presented by the AISA, which Morgan has won almost every year since 1991.