The young men and women who attend the Natchez-Adams School District — and those who recently graduated — should take a bow about now.

Last week the Mississippi Department of Education released the statewide graduation rates and the Natchez-Adams School District not only improved over the prior year, it topped the state average.

Better still the Natchez-Adams results were better than the most recently available national average as well.

Like we said, a well-deserved bow is in order.

Please note this was not an overnight success or just a fluke. The high graduation marks are the results of years of work.

That work is evident in the slow, but steady improvements the district has seen over the last few years.

Natchez-Adams’ graduation rate in 2015 was 71.7 percent compared to last year’s rate of 80.4 and this year’s 84.2.

Similarly the district has methodically worked on reducing its dropout rate as well with equally good results.

The school district’s progress and improvement should be heralded from the rooftops of Natchez. For many years, the district struggled with a seemingly revolving door at the superintendent’s office and a collective struggle to stay focused.

Much has changed under the current administration and the district leaders, administrators, faculty, support staff, students and parents should take pride in their accomplishments.

Nothing great comes without lots of hard work and it’s gratifying to see that hard work and teamwork pay off for the school district.