The Washington Wizards helped tip off the 2025-26 school year with a backpack and supplies giveaway today (Aug. 15) at William Ramsay Recreation Center.
Wizards forward Anthony Gill made a surprise appearance and joined rookies Tre Johnson, Will Riley, and Jamir Watkins at the event. The players, along with mascot G-Wiz and the Wizards Dancers, gave 700 backpacks to the students at William Ramsay Elementary School (5700 Sanger Avenue), which is located next to the recreation center and officially opens for the first day on Monday, Aug. 18.
“The biggest thing that we can do for kids is motivate them to chase their dreams,” Watkins said.
The event was sponsored by the Monumental Sports & Entertainment Foundation. Students also got free haircuts from CapeTown DMV at the event, manicures, free food, and giveaways.
Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt said that the event was extraordinary.
“It’s not just about backpacks,” Kay-Wyatt said. “It’s just letting our community know that we are willing to work together and care, and we all value education. That’s why it’s nice to see the players come out and interact with our children and just have conversations. It’s really an inspiration for our young students to say, ‘You know what? I can be anything I want to be,’ and that connection to school and them just having that conversation makes it all worthwhile.”
Principal Nefertiti Hunter-Holbeck said that the event reminds kids that they are valued and matter.
“It’s an amazing start for the school year,” Hunter-Holbeck said. “It communicates to the children that they matter, that the community cares about their education. We know that education is extremely important, and our children have extremely huge dreams and aspirations, and this just will continue the inspiration for them to move forward and go after those dreams and goals.”
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