Alexandria City High School Sheds Former Name, Reveals New Logos and Signs

Alexandria’s only high school was formerly named after T.C. Williams, a well-known segregationist, and was renamed through a student-led effort.

by Susannah Moore

Jun. 23, 2021

3:27 p.m.

Photo by Susannah Moore

Students Lorraine Johnson and Lily Fanning reveal the new sign for Alexandria City High School.

Students and graduates of Alexandria’s only high school will forever be known as the Titans, but on Wednesday the school, formerly known as T.C. Williams, revealed logos and signage for its new name – Alexandria City High School.

Wednesday’s ceremony was well-attended by school and city officials, students and members of the community. It was the culmination of a strong and largely unopposed campaign by students and the community to rename the school. The official name change becomes effective next week, on July 1.

“Our students are the reason we are here today. Our students have been making sure that they educated our community around who Thomas Chambliss Williams was, and if you don’t know this by now, through our The Identity Project, he was a staunch segregationist that believed that black and white students should not learn under the same roof,” explained ACPS Superintendent Dr. Gregory C. Hutchings, Jr.

“I have to tell you all today we have over 119 countries represented in Alexandria City Public Schools. We embrace our diversity, we are proud of our diversity and we realized that that name, Thomas Chambliss Williams, did not deserve to be honored by our only high school in the City of Alexandria,” Hutchings added.

School Board Vice Chair Veronica R. Nolan followed Hutchings and thanked everyone in attendance with a special emphasis on the hard work that ACPS staff do on a daily basis to fight for equality on behalf of their students. “While this is a momentous occasion, I also want it to be a somber one as well of reflection, that the work is not done with this name change,” Nolan emphasized.

Principal Peter Balas led the unveiling of the new logos for the school and the new sign. A new Titan helmet symbol was designed by student Marie Hubbard and an intertwined A and C logo for Alexandria City was designed by student Kim-Anh Aslanian. Hubbard could not attend the ceremony but Aslanian assisted in the reveal.

Students Lorraine Johnson and Lily Fanning unveiled the new Alexandria City High School sign to a round of enthusiastic applause from the crowd.

According to Hutchings, the renaming process which began today will take three months to be fully complete, this includes changing signage inside the high school and sports uniforms that had the T.C. Williams name on them. Costs estimated to implement the name change are estimated at $325,000.

Following the reveal, the metal T.C. Williams sign on the King Street facing entrance to the school was also removed.

See below for photos from Wednesday’s ceremony.

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