Student Accomplishments

High School

T.C. Williams High School

(renamed Alexandria City High School in July 2021)

• King Street Campus • Minnie Howard Campus • Satellite Campus at ACPS Central Office • Chance for Change Academy

ACHS Senior Sabine Mead was one of two Virginia high school students competitively selected to participate in the 2021 58th U.S. Senate Youth Program’s Washington Week. Sabine experienced an “intense week of unparalleled educational activities designed to deepen the student delegates’ understanding of the federal government and gave them direct access to those who lead it.” (ussenateyouth.org). As a delegate, she received a $10,000 scholarship.

Middle Schools

Grades 6-8

Francis C. Hammond Middle School (FCH)

S.T.E.A.M. Event: Medina Bundu represented FCH at the “Breaking Down The S.T.E.A.M. Door” event held at the Building MomentumThe Garden Alx on Eisenhower Avenue.

FCH International Academy conducted a virtual program that celebrated Black History Month and explored all of the African countries that our students represent at FCH.

George Washington Middle School (GW)

Patrick Ostermann-Healey’s National History Day Project, African American History Award: “The 1939 Alexandria Library Sit-In: Breaking a Barrier to Read at a Public Library” advanced to the national competition. His project focused on a dark time in history when America was sinking into the “quicksands of racial injustice,” when African Americans were “stripped of their adulthood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating ‘For Whites Only,’” when certain people were not even allowed to enter a library building, much less to receive a library card. Such barriers of racial inequality were ones that Samuel Tucker and the participants of the 1939 Alexandria Library sit-in tried to break down through a peaceful protest. While this protest missed the front page of the national news in 1939 due to Hitler’s invasion of Poland, the news spread locally. The Library sit-in expedited the need to open a library for African Americans in Alexandria, which was the Robert Robinson Library.

K-8 Schools

Grades K-8

Patrick Henry K-8 School

Patrick Henry K-8 School did not let the pandemic or virtual learning hinder the annual Patrick Henry Literacy Parade and Reading is Fundamental book distribution. In October, the students dressed up as their favorite storybook characters and came to the school to select free books. Books from every genre were available for students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The students were greeted by Clifford the Big Red Dog and the staff. A great time was had by all!

Elementary and PreK Schools

Early Childhood Center

Preschool students received more than 10 books on topics such as handling big feelings, problem solving and making healthy choices! These books were also used during virtual learning so that all students could participate actively using their own book. All students received six handson activity kits with lessons for families to do at home, and our teachers modeled how to use these materials during their virtual instruction.

Grades PreK-5

Charles Barrett Elementary School

The Fifth Grade Promotion Principals’ Award in 2021 went to Eymi Hernandez Avila for exemplifying perseverance and demonstrating tremendous growth.

The Fifth Grade Promotion Art Pelenberg Humor Award in 2021 went to Samantha Sleeter for her uplifting kindness and positive spirit.

William Ramsay Elementary School

Fifth grade student Justin Arce was selected for the Red U11 Alexandria Soccer Association team.

Cora Kelly School for Math, Science and Technology (Cora Kelly)

Early during the COVID-19 crisis, in June 2020, Cora Kelly students created a virtual talent show to raise money for Casa Chirilagua. With singing, dancing, magic, skateboarding, instruments and more, students raised over $700 for Casa Chirilagua, a community non-profit providing rent assistance and food for families affected by COVID-19. Special guests participated, including our very own Dr. Gregory C. Hutchings, Jr. Third grade student Walter Reppond- Weisz received the following awards in the 2020-21 PTA Reflections Contest: • Photography: First Place in the citywide contest. He advanced to the Northern Virginia contest and received an Award of

Excellence. • Literature: Third Place in the citywide contest.

Grades K-5

Douglas MacArthur Elementary School (DMES)

DMES was featured on the PBS NewsHour program with a story on our transition back to school during the pandemic. A PBS NewsHour reporter interviewed first grade teacher Ashley Hojnowski and two of our students on balancing in-person and virtual learning during the pandemic.

DMES artists were successful during the 2020 PTA Reflections art contest. Our second grade student Raya Yellin received an Award of Excellence: Primary Literature from the Virginia PTA State Reflection Contest.

Ferdinand T. Day Elementary School (FTD)

FTD added unique opportunities for students during its encore classes by adding a FLEX encore class schedule that included a rotation of Counseling, Technology and STEM classes. All classes K-5 received additional student support in SEAL, learning how to use their devices to enhance their engagement in virtual classes and included unique technology resources for demonstrating learning. All students received quarterly project bags to use for STEM engineering projects.

Elementary and PreK Schools

George Mason Elementary School (GM)

George Mason Elementary students participated in the Marine Corps Marathon (MCM) Kids Run. GM students earned the MCM Kids Award that comes with a $1,000 award for the PTA.

James K. Polk Elementary School

Each grade level hosted a virtual grade level/curriculum night, designed to assist parents in helping students. During these grade level meetings, teachers modeled specific strategies that parents can use to assist students with mastering grade level objectives. The Kindergarten team met with over 50 parents and students and it was a huge success. The Kindergarten teachers indicated that some students’ overall performance improved after the Kindergarten Success Night.

John Adams Elementary School

In collaboration with EL specialist Jaime Knight, our EL team successfully completed the first round of EL shadowing. This process provided us with important information about the language domains that our EL students are engaging in most frequently throughout the day. The EL team uses the data collected to further support homeroom teachers in supporting the needs of our EL students.

Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy

Andras Jacobson of Lyles Crouch Traditional Academy was one of the lucky students to have his question answered by a NASA astronaut, Victor Glover, during a livestream from the International Space Station on December 3, 2020. Jacobson was chosen from a handful of students across the United States to submit a question.

Mount Vernon Community School (MVCS)

The MVCS student council proposed beginning the SY21 recycling club. Fourth grade students made recycling a school-wide project aligned with our science focus.

Kimberly Sylva Gomez was this year’s Grand Marshall for the Del Ray Parade. Matthew Maury Elementary School (MMES)

(renamed Naomi L. Brooks Elementary School in July 2021) For the 2021 Spelling Bee, fourth grade student Henok Hailye was the winner from MMES, finishing in the top quarter. There were 39 schools present, and he was the only elementary school student to qualify for live rounds.

MMES student James Vetrini was the 2021 Best of School Poet Winner.

Alternative Programs and Schools

Alexandria City Detention Center

A student who has been in our program for the past year earned her GED this past September.

A student in our New Beginnings Program, which is a six-month program, completed all requirements with an outstanding rating and has now returned to their base school and is excelling.

Two students completed the ServSafe Food Handling Certification, and with the newly purchased mobile kitchen, will be permitted to prepare food for their peers and staff members.