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Mesquite Elementary principal wins national honor

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Mesquite Elementary School (Gadsden Independent School District) Principal Angela Marie Silvaggio is one of eight school leaders nationally to receive the Terrel H. Bell Award for Outstanding School Leadership award for 2021 from the U.S. Department of Education.

The award honors principals of national blue ribbon schools for their outstanding work and the vital role they play in guiding their students and schools to excellence, frequently under challenging circumstances, the New Mexico Public Education Department (NMPED) said in a news release.

“All I could do was cry happy tears. It’s a very humbling experience, but I’m very grateful,” Silvaggio said was her reaction when she got the phone call from Washington, D.C. about the award.

She attributed the award to always treating students the way she’d want her own children treated at school and surrounding herself with an administrative team that shares her vision, Silvaggio said in the news release.

Silvaggio has “made all of New Mexico proud as a shining light in our exceptional educator workforce,” NMPED Secretary Kurt Steinhaus said. “The work you and your team have accomplished at Mesquite Elementary has been noticed nationally.”

Silvaggio is in her eighth year as Mesquite Elementary principal.

A native of Providence, Rhode Island, Silvaggio began her teaching career in El Paso before moving to the Gadsden district, NMPED said.

Silvaggio and the other awardees will be honored, along with all 325 national blue ribbon schools, at an awards ceremony Nov. 4 in Oxon Hill, Maryland. In addition to Mesquite Elementary, New Mexico’s other blue ribbon schools are Mesa Verde Elementary in Farmington and Coronado Elementary in Hobbs.


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