Arlington Community High School celebrated its arrival at a new, permanent location in Pentagon City on Friday.
Hundreds turned out for the celebration at 1450 S. Eads Street, a more than 30,000-square-foot space donated by Amazon at its HQ2 campus.
“What a moment, what an incredible feeling — can we start like this every year?” principal Jeannette Allen said at the event, which took place in anticipation of the first day of school today (Monday).
Amazon provided the space and covered build-out costs as part of its agreement with the county government related to HQ2 facilities. The high school relocated from space in Ballston — the most recent in a number of temporary facilities it has occupied over the decades.
The partnership that created a permanent home for the school represents “an example of action, not just words” in supporting public education, Superintendent Francisco Durán said at the ceremony.
It is another way to “take down barriers for students, creating opportunities that tell them that their education matters,” Durán said.
Arlington Community High School is a nontraditional program open to students 16 and older. It offers the chance for students to combine education with other commitments, such as work and family responsibilities, with the flexibility to start and stop as needed.
“Students and staff will bring this building to life every day … in the heart of a vibrant and growing part of Arlington,” predicted School Board member Bethany Zecher Sutton.
Since Amazon announced that it had selected the National Landing area for its second global headquarters, “we made a commitment to being a true community partner,” said Andrea Fava, Amazon’s vice president for U.S. public policy.
“Students, we have built this for you,” she said. “We have been looking forward to this day — we have so much to celebrate.”
About 8,500 Amazon staff work in the vicinity. Fava said the arrival of the high school was “already bringing more life and vibrancy” to the vicinity.
During the Aug. 28 event, Amazon announced a $50,000 contribution to help support a new Friends of Arlington Community High School, which will have a role similar to a parent-teacher organization.
County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti said Arlington officials opted to use Amazon’s community-benefits pledge to create the new facility because of the value that Arlington Community High School brings.
“It is what the American Dream should be all about — closing the distance between the world as it is and the world as it should be,” de Ferranti said.
Among those on hand was Makayla Campbell, a graduate of the high school who is now a security specialist at Amazon.
She said her alma mater provided a lifeline for her and other students who benefited from options beyond a traditional high-school experience.
“I knew I needed the right environment, and [Arlington Community High School] gave me that opportunity,” Campbell said. “I didn’t feel like I was just another student walking the halls.”
Campbell’s brother also graduated from the high school. She urged the school’s current students, many of them in the audience, to “take advantage of every opportunity you’re given.”
The school “is a promise there is more than one pathway to a high-school diploma,” said Allen, whose first education-administration post was as assistant principal of the school in 2007-08. She later returned as principal.
Arlington Community High School began life as the Arlington Mill High School Continuation Program. It later moved from that area of Columbia Pike to an office building in western Ballston, then to the former Fenwick Center on the grounds of the Arlington Career Center.
When that building was razed to make way for the new Grace Hopper Center, the high school moved again, to an office building near the Ballston Metro station, where it stayed for several years.
“After all these years, we have a home,” Allen said at the Aug. 28 celebration. “Our students have a home that reflects the future we want for them. This is where we are planting our future.”
Earlier this year, Arlington Public Schools leaders signed a 30-year lease with Amazon for the space. The high school will occupy several levels of the building, with a separate entrance.
At current market rates, the space would rent for about $1.2 million annually. It is being provided without cost to the school system, which will only be required to cover routine maintenance estimated at about $25,000 per year.
The school will additionally have access to the large conference facility at Amazon’s adjacent building at 510 14th Street S. Allen told ARLnow that future graduation ceremonies will be held there.
Space for the school initially was expected to be included as part of the PenPlace project, but with development plans delayed, Amazon pivoted and in October 2024 announced that it would instead provide space at Met Park.
Last September, county and Amazon officials began the countdown to the move-in at the new facility, with buildout overseen by Clark Construction Group.
The building is located within walking distance of two Metro stations and is on multiple bus lines. Students will also have direct access to Met Park’s 2.5-acre public park, a community garden and surrounding businesses.
Students can participate in a dual-enrollment program, earning credits at Northern Virginia Community College for some coursework completed at the high school.
