Falls Church HS to launch mentorships with alumni authors

Dozens of former students at Falls Church High School have published books.

Carolyn Wixson McBride, one of those authors, and Craig Day, a Falls Church track and field coach, are launching an author mentorship program to harness the experiences of those authors to inspire current students.

Day, who graduated from Falls Church in 1977, hopes the Alumni Author Mentorship Program will start in April with an event where students, teachers, and alumni authors can come together for readings and discussions.

“The immediate goal is to show FCHS students they come from a long tradition of alumni authors,” Day says. “Our slogan is, ‘You too can write books!’”  

As the unofficial school historian, Day collected the names of authors who attended the school. He got in touch with McBride, the president of the Northern Virginia Writers Club, and they both decided to come up with a way to connect alumni authors with students.

McBride, of the class of 1984, is the author of The Cicada Spring, the first book in her Potomac Shores romance series. She also wrote Santa Overboard, which won first place in the Chick Lit Fiction 2025 PenCraft Book Awards.

McBride invited her former English teacher, Betsy Harris, to the book launch, and they continue to meet for lunch once a month.

To promote the author mentorship program, Rip Ellis of the Class of 1966 created a poster showing the covers of 29 books published by Falls Church alumni, beginning with Falls Church, Virginia, By Fence and Fireside by Melvin Lee Steadman Jr. of the Class of 1949.

Among the books written by Falls Church alumni:

Wrestling with Angels by John Hanrahan (Class of 1978). This memoir chronicles Hanrahan’s life as an All-American college wrestler, a top model, a personal trainer to celebrities, a cocaine addict, and his path toward redemption.

The Adventurer’s Son by Roman Dial (Class of 1977). Dial, a scientist and National Geographic Explorer, recounts his search for his son, who went missing in a remote, dangerous area in Costa Rica.   

The Gospel of Santa Claus by Wayne A. Van Der Wal (Class of 1984) recounts the story of Saint Nicholas, who was born in the third century A.D.

Baseball Art and Dreams by Scott Christopher (Class of 1971). This memoir recounts how a baseball fanatic overcame a severe injury as a child to become a star player for the Baltimore Orioles.

Lobster Wars by Mark Greene (Class of 1975) is a social satire about what happens when reality TV comes to a small fishing village in Maine. 

McBride and Day recently discussed the mentorship program with Falls Church educators and Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid, who said it was a great idea.

McBride says a professional alumni network can support English teachers by sharing their professional experiences in fiction and nonfiction writing and exposing students to real-world career paths in publishing and related fields. She says the authors can also help teachers work with students writing for the school newspaper (the Jagwire), literary magazine (the Jagazine), and the yearbook.

Day also views the mentorship program as “a way for authors to give back to their school and recognize the teachers who inspired them.”