Vicksburg Catholic Schools are known for their academic and athletic accomplishments and St. Aloysius principal Buddy Strickland went to the local Lions Club Wednesday to spread the news of what is happening in the system.

Strickland has worked in education, public and private, for years, but he said his work at St. Al has been his most fulfilling.

“It’s the one I’ve gotten the most satisfaction out of, and I’ve had some pretty amazing things happen to me since being principal where I am today,” Strickland said.

He came out of retirement to take the position a year ago, and he is proud of the schools reputation— who they are, what they do and where they are going. The school operates under one shared vision to led with humility, serve with love, strive for excellence and dare to be great, he said. All Catholic schools, he said, are built on three pillars of faith, knowledge and service.

Strickland listed honors held by the school including their student’s high ACT scores, having two Merit Scholars in two years, a Presidential Scholar, over 20,000 hours of community service, state finalist in Quiz Bowl and having more scholarship money awarded to their students than all other local schools in combined.

Strickland has been in contact with past students to find what the Catholic schools need to do to improve their curriculum for students to be more successful. The answer has been to integrate more technology into their schoolwork. This discovery led to research ending in the Catholic schools now purchasing iPads for younger students and MacBooks for older student.

“Beginning in September every student PreK through 12 will have access to a device,” Strickland said.

He said his success in education has come from using the business book “Good to Great,” by Jim Collins to guide his method of leadership in schools.

“Good is the enemy of great,” Strickland said.

He spent time working in the Cleveland school district in the early 1990s to have a school recognized as a Lighthouse School as well as being ranked in the top 50 schools in the United States.

“We were in the middle of the most economically and educationally deprived place in America,” Strickland said.

From Cleveland he said he moved on to the school system in Biloxi before working at Delta State University where the educational leadership program grew and exceled. He said the success all goes back to the book.

This week Warren County Board of Supervisors president Richard George will be speaking at the noon Lions Club meeting Wednesday at Toney’s Restaurant, 1903 Mission 66.