Kentucky signee Acaden Lewis is speaking on Capitol Hill today

Acaden Lewis is in the nation’s Capitol today in support of a federal program that allowed him to reach his dreams of playing Division I college basketball.

Lewis, a four-star point guard who is committed and signed with the Kentucky Wildcats, is scheduled to give a speech Wednesday in Washington D.C. on the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP). The program is designed to provide families in the area with the necessary funds to enroll at nearby private high schools as opposed to the public school route. Lewis, who was raised in a struggling neighborhood ignored by his district, moved to his current school, Sidwell Friends, directly because of this program.

Martenzie Johnson of Andscape has the details in a thorough article he released Wednesday morning ahead of Lewis’ visit to the Capitol. Former education secretary Betsy Devos and former House speaker John Boehner are expected in attendance for his speech. Click the link here to read Johnson’s entire piece on Lewis and how the OSP changed his life.

Johnson takes us for a quick ride behind the scenes of Lewis’ life. Now 19 years old, the 6-foot-2 floor general still embraces his roots and the community he’s formed while growing up in the Trinidad neighborhood in northeast D.C. He has a Trinidad Recreation Center tattoo on his right bicep. The decision to attend Sidwell Friends over a local public school wasn’t an easy one, but one he hopes inspires others in similar situations.

“I hope I can be a beacon to some of these other kids that are growing up here to be, like, He’s from Trinidad, he’s going to Kentucky, he’s got good grades his whole life, he’s done a good job in school, and hopefully people can look up to that and I can hopefully inspire other kids,” Lewis told Andscape.

There are also some random tidbits about Lewis as a basketball player sprinkled into this article. For instance, he watches plenty of highlights on former Kentucky guard/current MVP frontrunner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Lewis also intends to wear No. 55 on his jersey at UK next season in honor of Jason Williams, who was a human highlight reel at 6-foot-1 during his 12-year NBA career.

Head on over to Andscape for the full article where you can learn more about Kentucky’s future point guard.

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