2025 Year in Review: How Educate Fairfax Supported Students, Educators, and Families This Year

Every year, we are reminded of one simple truth: when our community comes together, amazing things happen for Fairfax County Public Schools students.

From moments of celebration to moments of challenge, Educate Fairfax stands beside our schools to make sure every child has the support, tools, and opportunities they need to succeed.

In 2025, our donors, partners, educators, families, and alumni showed what it truly means to invest in the future of FCPS students.

You rallied around classrooms, lifted up teachers, stocked shelves, celebrated graduates, and opened doors for young people across the county. This year was filled with meaningful moments, both big and small, that made a real difference.

As we look back on 2025, we are grateful, inspired, and proud to share some of the many ways you helped Educate Fairfax make an impact.

January: Launching the Transportation Access Fund

For many FCPS high school students, opportunities like internships, clinical experiences, externships, apprenticeships, and work-based tours are essential steps toward college and career readiness. Yet for some students, transportation remains a significant barrier.

At the start of 2025, longtime FCPS partner and former Director of Business and Community Partnerships, Jay Garant, made one request upon his retirement: create a fund to ensure every student could access these important learning experiences, no matter their circumstances.

Thanks to the generosity of colleagues, partners, and friends, the Transportation Access Fund launched earlier this year to support student travel to these opportunities. The fund is already opening doors for students who might otherwise miss out on experiences that shape their futures.

In its first year, the Transportation Access Fund raised $10,000 to support student transportation needs. We look forward to seeing what this fund will make possible in 2026.

February: Alumni Love and the Launch of Food for All

Love Your Schools Campaign

In February, we invited FCPS alumni to share their stories of young love that began in FCPS hallways and is still going strong.

Alumni embraced the campaign enthusiastically! Their stories of connection and gratitude showed just how deeply our schools shape the lives of students across generations. The campaign also gave alumni a chance to give back directly to the schools that helped shape them.

Introducing Food for All

Food insecurity continues to affect many Fairfax County families, despite strong community efforts. In response, Educate Fairfax launched Food for All, an initiative created to work alongside school staff and local partners to fill gaps and ensure more students have consistent access to nutritious food.

The program focuses on supporting students across the county who experience food insecurity, Title I schools, FCPS Welcome Centers and the new Fair Oaks homeless shelter where several FCPS students reside. 

True to our mission to energize the community to invest in students, the community stepped up right away. Small businesses like Nova Strong Personal Training and United Bank’s Woodburn branch organized food drives. Students, parents, board members, and neighbors volunteered their time to sort and pack donations. Meal bags were distributed to schools and families that needed them most.

One of the strengths of Food for All is that it is fully powered by our community. Anyone in Fairfax County can host a food drive, whether as a school club, sports team, neighborhood group, or business. All materials needed to host a drive and packing event are available on our website.

To date, volunteers have packed over 2,500 snack packs.

March–May: Alumni Stories That Inspire

March: A Journey of Resilience – Katie Knight

FCPS alum and Educate Fairfax board member Katie Knight shared her inspiring story of growing up in Fairfax County, navigating the loss of her mother in middle school, pursuing a degree in Egyptology, and ultimately returning to the county to raise her family.

Her journey shows the deep bonds formed in FCPS communities and highlights the importance of staying connected through the FCPS Alumni Network, managed by Educate Fairfax.

We believe our alumni demonstrate the power of public education. Whether you graduated in the 1950s or in 2024, our goal is to build a community where alumni remain engaged with FCPS, our students, and one another.

April: Month of the Military Child – Sarah Locke

In April, West Point graduate and FCPS alum Sarah Locke reflected on how her experience as a military-connected student attending FCPS during her formative years shaped her sense of belonging and inspired her to join the Army, following in her parents’ footsteps.

Her story underscored the importance of FCPS Purple Star Schools and the strong support systems in place for military families. Throughout the month, Educate Fairfax highlighted several grant recipients on social media who created programs benefiting military-connected students and schools.

May: Service Through Leadership – Karen Joseph

In May, we featured alum and FCPS Hall of Fame inductee Karen Joseph, founder of Food for Neighbors, a nonprofit addressing food insecurity among students across Northern Virginia. What started in Fairfax County, has now expanded to several surrounding counties. 

Her leadership played a role in inspiring Educate Fairfax's Food for All initiative, as we help to fill the gaps, and demonstrated how FCPS alumni can continue to support the community and make a huge impact on students and families long after graduation.

May: Launching a New Tradition with Beyond the Tassel

In May, we hosted the first-ever Beyond the Tassel event, a wonderful celebration of graduates, alumni, and community leaders. This was Educate Fairfax’s inaugural year of offering scholarships to FCPS students. It was also the start of our very own scholarship, the “Imagine. Believe. Achieve. Scholarship” funded by the Karlgaard Foundation.

“Beyond the Tassel was born out of a simple but powerful idea: to celebrate our students’ success while also reinforcing the lifelong value of the FCPS experience,” said Dr. Lynette Henry, Executive Director of Educate Fairfax.

The event brought together current students, alumni, educators, and business partners for:

• A networking hour that brought scholarship donors together with the students they helped   support

• Remarks from FCPS Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid

• Alumni reflections

• The awarding of more than $50,000 in scholarships to FCPS seniors

The evening encouraged reflection, connection, and celebration and laid the foundation for even more alumni engagement in the future.

June–August: Supplies for Success and Responding to Funding Cuts

This summer, Educate Fairfax launched an ambitious school supply campaign to support 35,000 students in 50 Title I schools, including 44 elementary schools, four middle schools, and two high schools.

The need was greater than ever. 

Federal budget cuts to Title I in 2025 created a $4.7 billion shortfall, making community support essential.

Dr. Henry shared the motivation: “Last year there were students in need that we wanted to help, but we did not have the funding to do so. This year, we knew we had to do more.”

And the community responded. 

Three local swim teams held swim-a-thons, several Walmart stores partnered with us to collect donations, and churches, organizations, businesses and individuals came together to help us get closer to reaching our goal.

As donations came in throughout the summer, Educate Fairfax staff and volunteers organized and distributed them across the county. At times, the amount of supplies overflowed on office tables, cabinets, and car trunks.

By mid-August, Educate Fairfax provided 5,000 complete school supply kits, helping students start the school year prepared and confident.

Fall 2025: Grants, Hall of Fame, and State of Our Schools

Record-Breaking Grants for the Second Year in a Row

For eight years, Educate Fairfax has awarded grants to help FCPS educators bring innovative, equitable learning experiences to life. Grants of up to $2,000 support projects aligned with FCPS’s Strategic Plan and are open to all school-based educators and staff.

To date, Educate Fairfax has awarded:

• 491 grants

• $799, 000 awarded

• More than 163,000 students impacted

The 2024–2025 school year was a record-breaking year, with 107 grants awarded impacting more than 30,000 students in 100 schools.

Projects included:

• Typing Club at Woodburn ES

• Composting at Madison HS

• Sphero Robots at Greenbriar East ES

• Bridging Futures at Interagency Alternative Schools

• Stories in Harmony at Holmes MS

• Financial Literacy and Entrepreneurship at Parklawn ES, where students ran their own pizza company

2025–2026 Grants

This year, we are thrilled to announce another record-breaking year!

We received a record 258 applications from 136 schools across FCPS, reflecting educators’ creativity in STEAM, arts, CTE, literacy, college and career readiness, family engagement, and special education.

We awarded 129 grants, totaling $210,000 and benefiting more than 47,000 students. Grant recipients have been notified, and we cannot wait to see these ideas come to life. With your continued support, we look forward to reaching our goal of funding all 199 FCPS schools and centers.

Celebrating Alumni Excellence: FCPS Hall of Fame

This year’s FCPS Hall of Fame event celebrated 11 distinguished alumni representing fields such as politics, education, entertainment, philanthropy, and business. Their accomplishments reflect the lifelong value of an FCPS education.

State of Our Schools

Educate Fairfax proudly supported the annual State of Our Schools event, which highlighted FCPS achievements, innovation, and priorities for the coming years.

November: Supporting Families Through the Holiday Season

Thanksgiving Community Dinners

In partnership with FCPS Food and Nutrition Services, Educate Fairfax supported Thanksgiving Community Dinners at Herndon, Justice, Annandale, and Mount Vernon High Schools the week of Thanksgiving.

Educate Fairfax covered the cost of all adult meals, and all children 18 and under ate for free. These dinners offered families a chance to enjoy a holiday meal without financial worry.

In its first year, Educate Fairfax helped provide over 500 meals across the FCPS community. We look forward to expanding this effort in 2026.

Packing 1,000 Snack Bags for Students

Also in November, volunteers from across the county came together to pack more than 1,000 snack bags for students in Title I schools and those living in local shelters.

The effort required careful preparation. 

Educate Fairfax board member Jane Petty and a dedicated community volunteer spent hours sorting thousands of food items in advance, allowing volunteers to pack over 700 bags in just three hours.

Volunteers included Girl Scout Troop 55033, students from multiple FCPS schools, teachers, staff, Educate Fairfax board members, and neighbors. Thanks to their generosity, students had access to nutritious snacks over the long Thanksgiving break.

Looking Ahead: Building on a Year of Impact

Thanks to the generosity of donors, partners, and community members, Educate Fairfax invested $1.27 million back into FCPS this year.

Our work remains centered on three core pillars: Student Access and Opportunity, Teacher and Staff Support, and Alumni and Community Engagement.

As we close 2025, we invite you to help continue this momentum through the 25 for 2025 Giving Challenge. Whether you give $25, $250, $2,500, or $25,000, your contribution fuels innovation, supports educators, and ensures every student has what they need to thrive.

To learn more about the impact of your generosity, read our Annual Impact Report.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for being part of a community that believes in our students, supports our educators, and strengthens our schools. Together, we are building brighter futures across Fairfax County.