The 2026 Student Peace Awards recipients of Fairfax County gather for a group photo during a reception honoring their achievements at the Sherwood Community Center in Fairfax on March 1.
Amidst a backdrop of significant international tension, Fairfax County honored 28 recipients of the Student Peace Awards of Fairfax County during a reception held at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 1, at the Sherwood Community Center in Fairfax. Now in its 20th year, the program is presented by a coalition of 15 secular and religious organizations, led by the founding Herndon Friends Meeting and the George Mason University Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution.
Margaret Fisher, an organizer and member of Friends, opened the reception saying that in the past year, there have been eight major wars and 28 other armed conflicts worldwide. Despite this, Fisher said the ceremony highlights a localized reality of peacebuilding where students “shine their lights” to show that peace is possible.
Ryan McElveen, Fairfax County School Board member at-large, added during speaker remarks that the students are honored because they “chose courage over cynicism, compassion over indifference and
Margaret Fisher of the Herndon Friends Meeting speaks during the 2026 Student Peace Awards of Fairfax County ceremony.
“They did not begin their projects seeking recognition,” McElveen said. “They acted because they saw a need.”
The ceremony highlighted the “intentional peacemaking” of students who treat harmony as an active practice rather than a passive goal. Fisher cited a conservative estimate of 240,000 people killed in 2025, with many more maimed, traumatized, starved and displaced. She acknowledges that recent events have added to the suffering and that it’s easy to feel futility that “lulls one into inaction.”
“Why keep struggling when the destructive elements of human nature are so ascendant in human culture?” Fisher asked.
Speaker U.S. Rep. James Walkinshaw, D-11, addressed the temptation to withdraw or accept defeat in the movement toward peace during his remarks. “We cannot afford to do that,” Walkinshaw said. He connects his optimism to the students and to history, noting that for almost 250 years, young people have led the country out of darkness and toward progress.
Walkinshaw cited John Lewis, a teenager from a sharecropping family in rural Alabama who listened to a radio program about the Birmingham bus boycott. Hearing that young people were organizing and fighting for equality and freedom “changed his life completely,” Walkinshaw said. Shortly after hearing that radio program, Lewis joined the boycott, launching a lifetime of advocacy that helped free all of us in many ways.
Attendees included the families and friends of the awardees, as well as Walkinshaw and Fairfax County School Board members Robyn Lady, Dranesville District; Marcia St. John-Cunnings, Franconia District; and Ilryong Moon, At-Large.
While there are many awards for academics and athletics, the Student Peace Awards of Fairfax County occupies a niche because of its grassroots origin. Peace is defined by the students themselves. The award consists of a monetary gift for each recipient and a matching donation for a peace-focused charity of their choice, Fisher said.
Sheba Ahmadzai is a senior at Centreville High School. As part of the award, she is gifted $100 to give to a charity of her choice. Ahmadzai explained that the Afghan Student Association should receive the donation to help refugees with mentorship and tutoring.
“Our goal is to bring the Afghan community at school together, especially (new) students who came from Afghanistan, refugees who are struggling … We help them,” Ahmadzai said.
Damika Ravi, a senior at Fairfax High School, said she wants to leave a legacy of networking for change. Her peace work centers on raising awareness of microaggressions and school safety. Ravi explained that the key is making sure research is given to the right people so they can “really get it out there and spread the information and actually create change,” Ravi said.
Savanne Clark, a senior at Mount Vernon High School, said working for peace has changed how she interacts with friends and family.
“I’m learning a lot more about taking bits and pieces of each person’s perspective and then really working on putting them together, possibly to find a solution, and then sometimes not finding a solution, really just creating more understanding,” Clark said. “And I found that understanding is just as impactful as finding a solution.”
Among the many other recipients are Caleb Crawford, a junior at Cedar Lane High School. Crawford assists students who are anxious or have difficulty with peer interactions.
Members of the Verdict school newspaper at Justice High School seek to inform students about current news with recent articles on sports betting, students’ interactions with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and teen pregnancy.
Alden Walcott, a junior at South Lakes High School, writes about her Indian Nation and produced “How Indigenous Teens Stay Connected with Their Heritage” for PBS.
The award stands apart because 28 schools chose a recipient, including three groups, for the 2025-26 award. Unlike programs managed by government agencies, these are entirely volunteer-run and grassroots-funded. A single Quaker group, Herndon Friends Meeting, started the program in 2006. It has since grown into a coalition of 15 to 20 local organizations. Presented by the Herndon Friends Meeting and the Langley Hill Friends Meeting, the prize structure encourages students to research and engage with the larger world of advocacy.
Closing out the reception, McElveen said peace is not a passive state but a series of choices made every day.
“May your work continue to make Fairfax County and the world a much more peaceful place,” McElveen said.