After graduating, he worked for a daily newspaper chain for a year; then went back to school. Lewis is a graduate of the University of Arizona (UA). He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and a minor in geography in the spring of 2010. After graduating, he worked for a daily and weekly newspaper chain (Casa Grande Valley Newspapers, Inc.) covering central Arizona for about a year. Af
ter covering education-related stories and serving as a mentor for a journalism workshop, Lewis wanted to get more involved with teaching and decided to go back to school. He decided to pursue a one-year-fast-track Masters of Education degree through the UA’s Graduate College of Education. Life and work took Lewis on a divergent path after about a year of Graduate studies. During his senior year as an undergraduate, Lewis was selected by a panel of journalists at The New York Times from among a national pool of student members of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists to participate in a two-week student journalism institute. During his time at the UA, he tutored and mentored students as an Einstein Protégé for a general education course. He also supervised and taught students with learning challenges, as well as a kindergarten class at D.W. Higgins Institute, a charter school in Tempe, Ariz. Lewis was a student leader in the School of Journalism and beyond. He would constantly assist other students with course work in an effort to improve their educational opportunities as well as his own. He has been a counselor and lead mentor for the Dow Jones Diversity in Journalism Workshop for Arizona High School Students for four years. The workshop is held during the summer and has high school students spend a week putting together a news product (both print and on-line editions) with the guidance of UA alumni, students and faculty. The workshop was where he developed a passion for education. It was during his tenure that he was determined to cover the education beat or work in education and do freelance journalism on the side. Before graduating he worked for the college newspaper the Arizona Daily Wildcat. The “Arizona Daily Wildcat” was named Best College Newspaper by Princeton Review’s “THE BEST 361 COLLEGES, 2006 EDITION.” While at the Wildcat, he had several stories picked up by the College edition of the Huffington Post (or HuffPost College). Here is a link to one of the stories that got picked up by the aggregation site. It also ran on David Hasselhoff’s website. Lewis has also worked at the two largest daily newspapers in Tucson, Ariz. (The Arizona Daily Star and Tucson Citizen) – and a lifestyles magazine (Tucson Lifestyle). He also worked for a community newspaper north of the Tucson area (San Manuel Miner). Lewis wrote two stories for the Arizona Daily Star that were picked up by the Associated Press (AP) wire service: one about a Bosnian refugee opening a local restaurant and another about a dachshund named Poppy who was racing in a regional Wienerschnitzel Wiener Dog race. While at the Tucson Citizen, he wrote a story about the regional science fair, which appeared on the front page of the print edition. In college Lewis served as the Vice President of the Society of Professional Journalists. He also served as the VP of the Journalism Student Advisory Council and was a member of various other organizations. Lewis most recently served as the Co-Secretary for the UA – Phoenix Chapter Young Alumni Club. His current affiliations include the National Association of Black Journalists; The Human Rights Campaign; National Association of Hispanic Journalists; UA Alumni Association and the UA Future Teachers Club.
