The Zebra Press - GOOD News in Alexandria, VA

11/30/2025

Alexandria, meet your newest Rhodes Scholar. 🎓✨

Hadi Kamara grew up right here in our community, graduated from Alexandria City High School with a 2.08 GPA, enlisted in the Air Force, studied at NOVA on weekends, transferred to Princeton — and today he’s bee n awarded one of the most prestigious academic honors in the world: a Rhodes Scholarship.

When he called home with the news, the first words his mother heard were: “Mom, I won!” Her response? “I had no doubt at all.”

From aircraft hangars to the halls of Princeton, Hadi’s journey shows what determination — and opportunity — can do. Alexandria couldn’t be prouder of him. 🇺🇸📚🌟

Read his inspiring story: https://thezebra.org/2025/11/30/alexandrias-own-hadi-kamara-wins-a-rhodes-scholarship-from-a-2-08-gpa-to-one-of-the-worlds-most-prestigious-honors/

Princeton University Alexandria City Public Schools

ALEXANDRIA, VA - When Alexandria native Hadi Kamara learned that he had been selected as one of only 32 Rhodes Scholars in the United States, the first

11/30/2025

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11/30/2025

Bavaria AND Santa Comes to the Mountain🍷🎄🍷
This Past Weekend Was the 2025 Lighting of the Vines Launch Party Celebration at Bluemont Vineyard in the Historic Village of Bluemont, Virginia.

While Santa and the Alpenhorn Band won’t be back again until next year, the 10,000 cascading twinkling lights strung across the grape vines will illuminate the 1,000-foot-plus-high elevation mountain vineyard through Tuesday December 30, 2026 at 5:30pm🎄🎄🎄🎄

11/30/2025

ALEXANDRIA’S OWN HADI KAMARA AWARDED a RHODES SCHOLARSHIP!

MOM! I WON!!!!!
Graduating from high school in 2019 with a 2.08 GPA, Kamara enlisted in the Air Force, becoming a crew chief.
While serving our country he took courses online from NOVA.

Kamara then enrolled at Princeton University as an undergraduate transfer student, where he served as a mentor in both the student veterans group and the transfer student association. Princeton’s transfer program is specifically focused upon facilitating inclusion applicants from lower-incomes, community colleges, and US military veterans.

Kamara’s mother, who emigrated to the United Staes from Sierra Leone, never once doubted that her son would qualify for the prestigious program and go on to do great things. Oxford only chooses 32 applicants from the U.S. each year.
That’s a 3% acceptance rate!

The political science major from
Princeton plans to earn a masters in philosophy from Oxford University .
Then it’s on to law school to pursue a career in policy and public service.

Ohhhhhhh the places Kamara will go!

11/29/2025

This holiday season, YOU NEED HADEED!

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11/29/2025

Our BIGGEST and BEST deal of the year is here!
If you’ve been thinking about updating your interiors, now’s the perfect time to book. This limited-time winter offer brings extra value, expert craftsmanship, and the finishing touches your home deserves. Patrick's Painting

Schedule your project today and make the most of this seasonal deal before it’s gone.
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11/29/2025

History can break your heart and open it at the same time.
Our publisher, Mary Wadland, offers a reflection on Thanksgiving at Mount Vernon, which is a moving reminder of why we must face our past with honesty and compassion — both at Mount Vernon and here in Alexandria.

ALEXANDRIA, VA - Every so often, and it happened again yesterday in a text, someone tells me they won’t visit Mount Vernon because “it was a slave

11/28/2025

Todd Healy's beautiful annual wall calendar is available at
Healy’s work lines the walls of many Alexandria homes and businesses. His signature pen-and-ink drawings, depicting the most iconic buildings in town, are the building blocks of his career and the subject of 45 years of his month-to-month calendars.

Each year he claims this will be his last calendar. “But this one could be it,” protests Healy. “I don’t know how much longer I can do it. Really.”

That makes this year’s edition a future collectible. Todd’s work is legendary, but his calendar is always the talk of the town around this time of year, especially amongst those who have been around the cobblestones a while and know about tradition. When you put away the holiday trimmings, you also pull down the old Healy calendar and hang the new one.

And yes, millennials, this is an actual paper calendar. And you hang it on a nail. “On the inside door of the pantry is where mine holds vigil all through the year,” says Susan Hahn, who lives in Mount Vernon. “We love all things Todd Healy—we have the ornaments too!”

Each month a different building is featured, colored, and accented for the seasons. More than one or two people have framed every one of the top pages and used them as décor. Each original drawing usually takes over 300 hours, about which he remarks, “I do it to honor the significant contributions of the craftsmen who built the buildings and made Alexandria such an extraordinary place to live and work, then and now.”

Healy’s original drawings of places like Christ Church, Friendship Fire Company, Gadsby’s Tavern, Carlyle House, Captain’s Row, and the Spite House are available as prints, framed and unframed. They are also used to inspire note cards, bag tags, gift bags, shopping lists, notepads, and ornaments.
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Photos: O'Flaherty