Wyandanch teen selected as summer congressional page

Lasheca Lewis was sitting in her English honors class Friday morning, just another Wyandanch High School junior, when her local congressman walked in.

She did not know why he was there, she was told it had something to do with school budgets. But Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington) called Lewis to the front of the class and said: "You're going to Washington, baby."

Lewis clapped her hand over her mouth and smiled. She had been selected as a summer congressional page and starts her four-week term in Washington, D.C., this July. There are four page sessions each year and a maximum of 72 House pages per session, so members of Congress don't have the chance to appoint a page very often.

"I'm really happy," Lewis, 17, said as her classmates applauded and Israel handed her a bundle of red, white and blue balloons.

For Lewis, who is the current junior class president, it's a prestigious step forward toward a career in politics. She'd like to be a lawyer and wants to attend John Jay College. Then she wants to run for elective office and possibly become a Supreme Court justice. If that doesn't work out, she said she'd like to be the first African-American woman to become president.

She acknowledges that her personal life has had some struggles, saying she would also like to "write a book about that someday."

"I come from nothing but a few years from now I am going to be something and something very big," she said in her essay to Israel's office.

Lewis got her first job when she was in eighth grade, and has often worked multiple jobs while going to school. She credits growing up in Wyandanch with making her street smart as well as book smart.

Only about half of Wyandanch High School students graduate in four years, according to the state Education Department, and only 19 percent plan to enroll in four-year colleges.

Dexter Ward, a guidance counselor at Wyandanch High School, said Lewis is an excellent student who is academically near the top of her class.

Lewis, a child of a single mother, also has participated in the Urban League's Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program, also known as GEAR UP, which helps students get into college.

Israel, who met her for the first time Friday, said Lewis was "absolutely extraordinary." She was selected based on her essay and her academic and extracurricular record.

"I have a sense she will be waiting for me to move on," he said.

And Lewis, whose inspirations include Supreme Court justices Thurgood Marshall and Sonia Sotomayor, found the experience surreal.

"I keep thinking that I'm dreaming," she said.