Fredericksburg School Division Honors Gladys West
City's third elementary school will be named for pioneering mathematician.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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Gladys West received an early birthday present on Monday evening—a letter from Vice President Kamala Harris, congratulating her on being the namesake of Fredericksburg City’s third elementary school.
West, who will turn 94 on October 27, listened from James Monroe High School’s second floor balcony, surrounded by her family, as Del. Joshua Cole read Harris’s letter aloud during a reception hosted by the School Board.
“You serve as a shining example to Black women across America that dreams can be realized,” Harris wrote.
West is a pioneering computer programmer whose mathematical model of the shape of the Earth served as the foundation for the development of GPS. In 1956, she became the second woman, and fourth Black person, hired to work at Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren (now Naval Surface Warfare Center). She worked there for 42 years, retiring in 1998.
In 2018, West was inducted into the U.S. Air Force Hall of Fame, and in 2021, she received the Prince Philip Medal from the United Kingdom’s Royal Academy of Engineering, which is the highest individual honor bestowed by the academy.
The new Gladys West Elementary School will open in August of 2025 in the building that currently houses Walker-Grant Middle School. The middle school will move into the new building under construction in the Idlewild neighborhood.
Gladys West Elementary will be the first school in the division named for a woman, School Board Vice Chair Matt Rowe said on Monday.
Fredericksburg Mayor Kerry Devine thanked West for inspiring “so many people, but especially young girls.”
“It’s heartwarming to know you are in our midst,” she said.
In addition to the letter from Harris, West received commendations on Monday from Devine on behalf of the City of Fredericksburg, from Cole on behalf of the Virginia House of Delegates, and from Senator Tara Durant on behalf of the Virginia Senate.
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