AAA Honors Fairfax County Student with Outstanding School Safety Patroller of the Year Award

ANNANDALE, VA (June 18, 2026) - AAA proudly announces that William “Will” Kinne, a sixth grader at Canterbury Woods Elementary School in Fairfax County has been named as a 2025-2026 AAA Outstanding School Safety Patroller of the Year.

William was nominated for this honor by his Safety Patrol Advisor, Ms. Debra Rozek, and was recently recognized by AAA, Ms. Rozek and members of the school faculty before a large audience of his classmates and parents during an end-of-year school ceremony.

Like thousands of his peers across the country, Will is committed to keeping his fellow students safe and being a positive role model at his school. He consistently demonstrates leadership qualities and is a responsible and caring leader, who is respected by his peers, advisors and teachers.

“Will remains focused on the task at hand, choosing to lead by example,” stated Ms. Rozek. “His ability to stay attentive, even when faced with unkind distractions, is a reflection of his resilience and dependability.”

While Will consistently demonstrates leadership qualities and is described as a calm role model, one incident stood out. Following a recent snow event, two younger students ran into the traffic lane, picked up ice, and began throwing it toward the car behind them. Will remained calm under pressure, quickly intervened, and successfully redirected the students from the street to a safe area.

For more than 100 years, the AAA School Safety Patrol has been the world’s largest school-based safety program. Patrollers around the world provide school-aged children with an extra sense of safety and security during the school day’s busiest times: arrival and dismissal. As a peer-to-peer leadership development program, Safety Patrols are trained to recognize safety hazards to ensure a safer school environment. The presence of a AAA School Safety Patroller wearing the familiar belt and badge is a nationally recognized symbol representing nearly 680,000 children throughout the country who participate in the program each year.

“Will's everyday commitment, quick thinking, leadership, and composure exemplify the very best qualities of the AAA School Safety Patrol program,” said Ragina Cooper Ali, Public and Government Affairs Manager for AAA Club Alliance in Maryland and Washington, D.C.

Created to make school children safer while walking to school, the program has grown-up and matured with the times while remaining steadfast to its mission to provide a safer environment and leadership opportunities for millions of school children. The training that patrollers receive instills safety sense beyond street crossings, including bus and car drop-offs, monitoring hallway congestion, and teaching patrollers invaluable leadership skills.

“AAA is proud to support this critical safety program in Virginia and at schools across the country,” Ali added. “We provide these young people with training tools to help make their school safer. We are consistently impressed with the leadership, maturity and initiative demonstrated by these young leaders at their schools."

The leadership values and safety awareness have inspired many former patrollers to pursue admirable careers, including Presidents of the United States, astronauts, governors, Members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, Olympic medalists, and authors, like Diary of a Wimpy Kid author, Jeff Kinney. Many patrollers now serve as educators, executives, and community leaders.

Since 1920, AAA has been providing various equipment and education materials to patrollers, including reflective belts, patrol badges and training resources. The AAA model has been adopted in at least 30 other countries, including England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.