Two Alexandria students were recently awarded $500 prizes for their submissions to the 2026 George Washington Legacy Foundation Essay Contest.
Garrett Wagman of George Washington Middle School and David De Costa of Bishop Ireton High School won the middle school and high school contests, which were open to all students in the city. This year’s 700-to-1,000-word essay contest focused on America’s 250th anniversary and Washington’s role in uniting the colonies.
A pedestrian safety improvement project near George Washington Middle School and Charles Barrett Elementary School is slated to receive $2.17 million in federal funding.
The project, phase two of the city’s Safe Routes to School Crossing Improvements, aims to bolster student safety and “strengthen connectivity to nearby neighborhoods” at the schools by installing curb extensions with crosswalks, shortening crossing distances, improving bus stops and removing a slip lane.
Hundreds of Alexandria residents gathered Sunday at George Washington Middle School for ALIVE!’s 44th annual StepALIVE! Walkathon, raising $125,000 to support families facing food insecurity and housing instability.
The event marked a milestone for the fundraiser, which moved to a new site for the first time since its inception. A total of 352 walkers participated, choosing between 5K and 5-mile routes through Del Ray and Old Town.
Get your running shoes ready, because the Saint Rita Catholic School 5K and 1K Kids Fun Run are returning to Alexandria on Saturday, Nov. 15.
The races are a fundraiser for the school, and the course starts outside George Washington Middle School (1005 Mount Vernon Avenue), then heads down tree-lined Main Line Boulevard and Potomac Avenue, and returns to GW. More details on the races are below.
Lance Harrell has a big job, overseeing Alexandria City High School, the largest high school in Virginia.
Harrell says he’s working 10- to 16-hour days, with the longest days being Fridays, when there are football games. “I think the biggest change is just the added hours that I’ve been working,” Harrell told ALXnow in an interview on Wednesday.
Alexandria is asking for public feedback on plans to upgrade crosswalks near schools in Arlandria and Del Ray.
The city’s Crossing Improvements Phase II would transform the sidewalks around Charles Barrett Elementary School (1115 Martha Custis Drive) and George Washington Middle School (1005 Mount Vernon Avenue). The deadline to submit feedback on the plans is Friday, Aug. 29.
More than 130 families from the MacArthur Elementary School community delivered a letter to the School Board this week opposing redistricting changes heading to the School Board for a final decision next month.
Keep Students Together, a new group dedicated to the issue, said that the proposals to “split the elementary school community” are speculative and rushed, and will disrupt kids who started their elementary school experiences during the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic.
An Alexandria man is being held without bond after allegedly stealing a number of bicycles, breaking into an apartment in Old Town to steal a purse, and then using a debit card at a nearby convenience store.
The 54-year-old suspect was arrested on May 8 and charged with possession of burglary tools, entering a dwelling with intent to commit larceny, and multiple counts of destruction of property, trespassing, and petit larceny.
It’s a new era for middle school sports in Alexandria, and the girls started it.
On Tuesday (Dec. 3), the George Washington Middle School girls basketball team defeated Jefferson-Houston PreK-8 IB School 22-14 in Alexandria’s first-ever middle school championship basketball game.
Thousands of runners, walkers and their dogs are expected to participate in the 49th annual Turkey Trot in Del Ray on Thanksgiving morning, Nov. 28.
The five-mile contest is touted as the “premier D.C. area Thanksgiving race” by the Del Ray Business Association. It started in 1975 with just 244 runners, and has since grown to 6,000+ participants.
An average of 4,800 speeding tickets are being issued every month in three Alexandria school zones, and the city’s school system will soon look for locations for future speed cameras.
The data was presented at a joint City Council/School Board Committee meeting at City Hall on Monday (Sept. 23).
