[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 154 (Friday, October 12, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2126]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       RECOGNIZING THE MODERNIZATION OF T.C. WILLIAMS HIGH SCHOOL

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JAMES P. MORAN

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 12, 2007

  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the grand 
reopening of T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, VA. T.C. 
Williams, which serves Alexandria City Public Schools students in 
grades ten through twelve, recently completed a massive renovation and 
modernization project in time to open for the start of the 2007-2008 
school year.
  The modernization of T.C. Williams High School has brought a state-
of-the art, 21st-century learning experience to 1,997 Alexandria City 
high school students. The entirely new building includes computers in 
more classrooms, a fully-integrated fiber optic network, a new media 
center, and a completely automated library, making T.C. Williams among 
the best technologically equipped schools in the country.
  In addition to vastly improving the educational experience of 
Alexandria's high school students, the T.C. Williams school 
modernization project has won awards for architectural excellence and 
environmentally-friendly building features. The school was honored by 
an independent jury of architects, engineers and general contractors in 
the local building community as Educational Project of the Year in Mid-
Atlantic Construction magazine's Best of 2007 awards program. This 
year, Mid-Atlantic Construction had a record number of entries for its 
Best of 2007 awards, and honored T.C. Williams along with 45 other 
projects in 16 categories.
  The T.C. Williams reconstruction was also honored with a Green 
Innovation Award from the Virginia Sustainable Building Network, which 
named it the Best Institutional Project of the year. The building, 
which adheres to the standards and principles of the U.S. Green 
Building Council's LEED 2.1 Green Building Rating System, includes a 
number of environmentally innovative features, such as an advanced 
storm water management and reuse system, water conservation measures 
and energy-saving air conditioning operations, and a permanent 
measurement and verification system to track water and energy usage at 
the facility.
  Madam Speaker, I commend the leadership of the Alexandria City Public 
Schools and T.C. Williams High School, along with the architects and 
builders involved, for all their work to make the modernization of T.C. 
Williams a reality, and for their dedication to renovating the school 
in a way that was both architecturally and environmentally innovative. 
I am proud to have such a state-of-the-art facility available to 
educate the students of Virginia's 8th Congressional District.