From not speaking English, to a 4.2 GPA

For The Madera Tribune

Henry Lewis.

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One of the first things Henry Lewis did when he first came to the United States in 2019 was have Thanksgiving dinner at Nancy and David Simpson’s house. He didn’t speak a word of English at the time.

Fast forward six years, and Lewis will walk across the Madera High School Commencement Ceremony stage with his diploma and a 4.2 grade point average.

“It’s great to graduate with a 4.2,” he said. “I barely knew any English when I got here. I used sign language to talk to my dad. It was a great accomplishment that I got an A in English this year.”

Lewis plans on attending UC San Diego in the fall, and majoring in economics to become a stock broker or an investment banker.

“I love money, but not in a bad way,” he said. “I enjoy controlling where I can spend my money and have the freedom. When I was little, I had a sense of earning my own money. I saw a movie, and I saw they could spend their money the way they liked. I tutored other students online.”

Lewis was also proud to note that he never got lower than an ‘A’ in math. He was a member of the Science Club, French Club, Future Business Leaders of America and was on Mock Trial this year.

“I’m the time clerk,” he said. “The coach came up to me and knew I liked math. As a clerk, you keep track of time. It was right up my alley.”

Lewis was a three-year varsity letter winner in tennis, and helped the tennis team win the County/Metro Athletic Conference to give the Coyotes its first boys tennis league championship since 1979.

“I really enjoyed playing tennis. I rarely missed practices. I also went out with my buddies to play,” he said. “My mom is a big Roger Federer fan. She wanted me to do sports. She wanted me to play tennis because she loved it. I thought if I did good at tennis, she could be proud of me. It was something to connect with her.”

After coming to the United States, trying to learn English through COVID and coping with his father enduring open-heart surgery, Lewis is excited about returning to China for the first time in seven years, through the summer for six weeks.

“I was planning on going a long time ago, but I had to focus on my studies,” he said. “There were too many things going on. Now, I’m graduating, and over the age of 18, so I’m stepping into the next chapter of my life. I have time to settle everything down. I will be in China for 42 days. I’ll be back to go to school. It’s an exciting summer. I can’t wait for it.”

When Lewis came to the United States, he couldn’t really communicate with anyone except his father. Then, his father had heart surgery, so Lewis had to really bear down and try to learn English.

“I was thinking if I didn’t have my dad, what would I do with my life?” he said. “I didn’t speak any English. I could barely talk to anybody. I started to focus to learn English. Before that, I felt like my life was easy. I could come and chill. Middle school didn’t have any homework.

“I started to focus on learning English. I learned mostly by watching TV and reading books. The reason my English is boosted is because I met friends. Talking to friends and asking questions about vocabulary helped me more than anything.”

From not knowing the language to now conducting interviews, Lewis has come a long way from wondering if he was going to even graduate.

“My freshman year, I doubted myself and my grades were bad,” he said. “My life was going to be horrendous. My English went up and I started getting good grades. It’s really exciting to graduate. I can’t believe I will be walking the stage. Back then, I was negative, but now I’m happy with what I did. I did pretty well for myself. I never thought I would be at this point.”

After four years at Madera High School, Lewis has matured quite a bit.

“I would tell my freshman self that everything will be okay, just focus on yourself,” he said. “I became a little lost for a while. Thanks to my dad, he brought me back. I told myself as a freshman, I had to focus on my studies more than anything else. My grades kept improving throughout the years, and I started to feel good about myself.”

Lewis credits being a part of the boys tennis team as another reason for his success and development.

“The tennis team is like a family for me, as well as the clubs. They are always there for me, and a second family to me. They are the reason why I wanted to focus on my studies,” he said.

While most seniors have to deal with Senioritis kicking in and kind of relaxing in the final month, Lewis was the opposite.

“This last month, I was working harder that I have because I wanted to maintain my straight A’s,” he said. “It was hard because it was my senior year. I was feeling stressed. The last month, I had finals and presentations to do. And, I was an online tutor trying to get a kid to pass pre-calculus. I stayed up until 2 a.m. to get everything done.”

When Lewis walks across the stage, he thinks it will be one of those lifetime flash moments when the past seven years in American flashes in his mind.

“I will probably cry,” he said. “I will be really emotional thinking about people I met the past four years and will miss. When I walked out of school last week, I wasn’t thinking about the people I met, but the me that first came to America. I was going through my whole seven years of being here. It was like a growth spurt for me.”