Alexandria students were asked to submit possible new names for T.C. Williams High School, the city’s only public high school. More than 50 possible new names now populate a poll from Alexandria City Public Schools. The question officially opens Wednesday, and you will be able to vote or submit new names through January 27.
Possible new names include some safe choices (Alexandria High School, Titan High School), some names you might expect (Herman Boone High School, Ruth Bader Ginsburg High School), and a few inspired by recent events (George Floyd Memorial High School, Brian Sicknick High School). There are also names that were apparently beamed in from outer space. If you’ve ever wanted to attend Anime High School, now’s your chance, or you could vote for Markus Persson High School, enshrining the QAnon-promoting creator of Minecraft in academic legend forever.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, despite ignoring Washingtonian‘s advice to move here, are both possible new namesakes. Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, and Rep. John Lewis are on the list, and so are Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton.
There’s another poll to help choose a new name for Matthew Maury Elementary School, which was named after a Confederate Navy commander who was also a prominent oceanographer. Some possible local namesakes include Blois Hundley (a cook at a city school fired by the real-life T.C. Williams after she joined a suit that sought to integrate George Washington High School), Earl Lloyd (an Alexandria native who was the first Black man to play in the NBA), and Kathleen Wilson (who led the National Women’s Political Caucus in the 1980s). Kobe Bryant gets a nod, as do Barack Obama, Adam Smith, and Clarence Thomas.
The city expects to narrow down the poll results to six finalists and will announce the schools’ new names this April.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
