Alexandria leaders will cut the ribbon on the Alexandria City High School’s five-story, $190 million Minnie Howard Campus next week.
The new 343,000-square foot facility at 3801 W. Braddock Road doubles the capacity of its 1950’s-era predecessor, and can hold 1,600 students. Construction started two years ago, and the new facility will open for students on the first day of the next school year, August 19, according to Alexandria City Public Schools.
Mayor Justin Wilson will join School Board members, Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt and school officials in making brief remarks at Minnie Howard on Wednesday morning, followed by the ribbon cutting and then a tour of the building.
Due to space constraints, ACPS will live-stream the ribbon cutting on Facebook from 9 to 10 a.m.
According to ACPS:
Originally built in 1954 to accommodate students from grades one to seven, the school closed in the early 1980s due to declining enrollment in Alexandria but later reopened as the ninth-grade campus for ACHS. Some of the key features include state-of-the-art classrooms, a wrestling room, a main and auxiliary gymnasium, dedicated spaces for career and technical education, multiple collaborative common areas and a greenhouse. In partnership with the City of Alexandria, the facility also offers early childhood education, a teen wellness facility, and student and family resource centers, and an aquatic facility with a regulation-length pool. These collocated spaces are all accessible to the community and operated by Alexandria’s Department of Community and Human Services and the Department of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities. Additionally, in line with ACPS’ energy and sustainability goals, the building features electric vehicle charging stations, infrastructure for a future photovoltaic solar array, geothermal well field, and has been designed to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification.
The Minnie Howard Campus design supports the newly introduced Alexandria City High School Academies at Alexandria City model, allowing students to engage in small learning communities and foster life, college and career readiness. This model consists of six academic academies for the 2024-25 school year including the science, technology, engineering and math academy, a business and government academy, the education, liberal arts and human services academy, the visual, performing and applied arts academy, a global studies academy and a general studies academy. This facility will officially welcome students and staff on August 19, 2024, for the first day of the 2024-25 school year.
