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Principal Patty Mandigo assembled Heritage High's nearly 1,600 students in the gymnasium Friday morning for an unusual assembly and quite a surprise.

US Cellular presented the school with $100,000 as one of 10 national winners in its Calling All Communities program.

During the past six weeks or so, teacher Sherry Walker has worked hard, encouraging students, teachers, staff and community residents to enter the competition by submitting a card in behalf of Heritage High.

On Friday, Dana Dorcas, US Cellular's senior director of sales for the east region announced the award by the cellphone provider.

The student body and several community leaders invited to the event erupted in a thunderous applause upon the surprise announcement.

Mandigo said the school had numerous needs and she expected it would be spent across the board to meet a variety of needs. The theater, for example, is in serious need of an upgrade. Improvement of both its sound and lighting system is needed as well as new drapes.

It is anticipated the money will spent at Heritage in cooperation with the Blount County Board of Education and could include needs of athletics as well as academics.

The award announcement brought an obvious eruption of a cohesive effect, reflecting community pride and joy from the student body.

As the campaign moved along, the school had reports of its standing until the last few weeks and had no idea it was one of the 10 schools nationally that would receive $100,000.

We congratulate all the students, faculty and staff at Heritage High for their outstanding achievement. It is always good to win and when you are one of the top 10 in the nation and is pays off $100,000, that is hard to beat!