As they filed onto the Boyle County High School football field Thursday afternoon, Woodlawn Elementary School students thought they were participating in a routine fire drill. But this time, the drill was anything but routine.

The drill was “interrupted” when Principal Bernice Bates got a call from someone very important who was coming to the football stadium to deliver some news.

Posing as important government officials, high school teacher Brian Deem and Assistant Superintendent Mark Holderman informed the students gathered around the 50-yard line that Woodlawn Elementary had earned a “distinguished” rating on its state assessment scores for the third year in a row, scored the highest of any elementary school in Boyle County and earned the 24th-highest score in the state at the elementary level.

Students — who had been kept in the dark about the surprise — jumped, danced and screamed in celebration as teachers unfurled three banners to celebrate the high scores.