NATCHEZ — Success was in the air last week at Morgantown Middle School.

As the school’s marching band played and the cheerleading squad waved pom-poms in the air Wednesday evening, more than 200 students were recognized for reaching certain milestones on the annual statewide test, the Mississippi Curriculum Test 2.

The event, dubbed “Get Loud for Education,” was the first of its kind at Morgantown, but it won’t be the last, newly named principal Kesha Broady-Campbell said.

“Morale and confidence is everything, especially when we’re labeled as an ‘F’ school, which tends to depress and stifle the students,” she said.

“It’s important that we really cultivate and spotlight the good things going on so we motivate the students to continue to work hard and do well all year round.”

Broady-Campbell took over as principal of the school on Oct. 14 after the former principal Roberta Phipps left because of personal reasons.

A New York native, Broady-Campbell moved to Mississippi to participate in Alcorn State University’s Teacher Fellowship Program, which awards scholarships to those seeking a master’s in education who commit to work in certain areas in Mississippi with teacher shortages.

Broady-Campbell began teaching ninth and 10th-grade students at Jefferson High School before being offered an assistant principal position at Morgantown earlier this year.

“My passion is teaching because I’m a teacher at heart,” she said. “My goal for getting into administration is to replicate that passion and drive for teaching and spread it among all of our teachers.

“Teachers are the primary culprit who are going to affect student outcomes, so we need to be building teachers and we’ll see growth with the students.”

Broady-Campbell said a push she’s strived for in her teachers lately has been to enforce language arts, math lessons and curriculum throughout all subjects.

“Whether it’s the art teacher or the music teacher or the health teacher, everyone is incorporating those skills because that’s where we’re seeing the levels lower in student performance,” she said. “We need to start working on those things now before test time if we want to see the results later.”

Outside of the classroom, Broady-Campbell said rallying student and parent morale throughout the community will be another key to creating a successful school.

As parents cheered for their children receiving recognition Wednesday night, Broady-Campbell took a moment and asked for the community’s support.

“We all have a role to play to ensure that our children are successful,” she said. “If we all rally together… we can make a difference and make their dreams a reality.”

Students were recognized through a variety of designations, such as “district all stars with special recognition” which indicated a student scored advanced and made growth on at least two of the state tests to “all-stars” which indicated a student made growth on at least two state tests.

Cynthia Williams stood proudly next to her son and eighth-grade student, Christian Williams, after the event, saying she feels enough positive recognition and hard work can help turn the school around.

“It really pumps them up and shows them that because they worked hard, they’re getting rewarded,” Williams said. “As long as everyone keeps working hard, we can make the change we want to see.”