Mayor Muriel Bowser cut the ribbon on a new track and field facility at H.D. Woodson High School on Monday, standing alongside the Washington Commanders to mark the opening of upgraded athletic grounds in Northeast Washington. The ribbon-cutting capped a project tied to a $650,000 grant aimed at improving playing surfaces at D.C.-area high schools.
The event was captured in a photo description noting that Bowser, “center, cuts the ribbon during an event with the Washington Commanders to celebrate a new track and field at H.D. Woodson High School, Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, in Washington,” according to wvnews.com. The mayor's own office had flagged the appearance on her public schedule, listing a 1 p.m. stop to “Join the Washington Commanders to Celebrate New Track and Field at H.D. Woodson High School,” per her public calendar. Mayor Bowser also appeared in a Facebook video titled “LIVE: Mayor Bowser Joins the Washington Commanders to Celebrate New Track and Field at H.D,” posted to Mayor Bowser on Facebook that same day.
A Regional Push Backed by $650,000
The Woodson ribbon-cutting is one piece of a broader push by the Washington Commanders Foundation, which teamed up with the NFL Foundation to award $650,000 to three high schools across the region, according to DC News Now. That funding is going toward installing new synthetic playing surfaces at H.D. Woodson High School, Watkins Mill High School and West Springfield High School, the station reports. The goal, per DC News Now, is to create safer, more durable and accessible playing environments for student-athletes and community members at all three campuses.
Watkins Mill High School and West Springfield High School round out the list of recipients, meaning Woodson's new track is part of a coordinated investment stretching beyond the District and into Maryland and Virginia. The same facts were echoed by Yahoo Sports, which described the effort as a foundation partnership directing sports-infrastructure funding toward multiple DMV high schools.
DCPS Leadership Weighs In
D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Dr. Lewis D. Ferebee praised the upgrades heading into their use by Woodson's athletes. “I look forward to seeing our H.D. Woodson football players and student-athletes enjoy their facilities' updates,” Ferebee said, according to DC News Now's report on the grant.
The $650,000 check behind the three-school initiative was actually presented earlier, at a Christmas Day game between the Commanders and the Dallas Cowboys, the station reported. Monday's event at Woodson served as the local, on-the-ground celebration of that funding reaching D.C. students, with the mayor on hand to mark the occasion. H.D. Woodson High School itself sits in Washington, D.C., according to Hess Construction, which has documented work on the campus.
For Woodson's student-athletes, the new track and field represents a tangible upgrade to facilities they use for training and competition, built on a grant structure designed to touch multiple communities rather than a single school. The partnership's reach into Maryland's Watkins Mill and Virginia's West Springfield underscores that this was conceived from the start as a regional commitment, not a one-off gift to a single D.C. campus.
