Drum Roll, Please! Neuqua Valley High School Wins a Grammy

Neuqua Valley High School has been named the 2013 National Signature School by the Grammy Foundation.

The foundation recognizes top U.S. public high schools making an "outstanding commitment to music education." In 2005, Neuqua Valley was also named the top school for music education, according to a press release.

Neuqua Valley will be presented with a check for $10,000 as well as its very own Grammy statue. 

Two other Indian Prairie School District 204 schools, Metea Valley and Waubonsie Valley High School, were selected as semi-finalists. 

"It's remarkable that all three of our high schools were selected as semi-finalists, and truly wonderful to have one recognized as the top school in the country," said District 204 Superintendent Kathy Birkett in a release.

"For the past 15 years, our Grammy Signature Schools program has been providing much-needed financial resources and recognizing excellence in schools across the U.S. whose music programs have a positive impact on the lives of their students," said Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy and the Grammy Foundation in a release. "We're extremely grateful to our sponsors, whose generous support has allowed this initiative to grow. This program also was one source of inspiration behind the new Music Educator Award being presented by The Recording Academy and the Grammy Foundation that will honor music's unsung heroes — the teachers who spend their days in classrooms encouraging music's next generation."

The District 204 high schools were among 20,000 other public high schools across the country that applied for the 2013 Grammy selection process. The finalists were reviewed by an independent blue-ribbon committe of top music educators, according to the release.