Each September, when the first school bell signals a new year, my mother, Patty Lewis, brings out her speaker. With her favorite ’80s songs playing loud, she greets students arriving at Adam J. Lewis Academy — the school named for my father, her husband, Adam, who was killed in the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.
My father was raised in a one-bedroom apartment in the Bronx, New York, where he lived with his dad and attended local public elementary and middle schools. A gifted athlete, he earned a scholarship to The Dalton School in Manhattan, an educational break that transformed the direction of his life. That experience shaped one of his deepest convictions: education can be the great equalizer, giving children from any background the foundation they need to compete, grow and thrive.
He made the most of that chance. After Dalton, he attended Hamilton College, where he met my mother, and later built a career at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, a financial firm with offices in the Twin Towers.
As our family grew to include four children — Reilly, Sam, Sophie and me — my mother left teaching to focus on raising us. My father remained deeply present in our lives, commuting between New York City and Connecticut while making sure each of us felt noticed, listened to and loved. Providing for his family was central to who he was, and he knew that the educational opportunity he had been given helped make that life possible.
Caroline Lewis
Ten years after 9/11, my mother found her way back to education through an admissions role at my private school in Westport, Connecticut. There, she met and interviewed hundreds of children from surrounding communities, including Bridgeport, a lower-income city where many public schools were struggling. Again and again, she saw bright, promising students who had not been given the early academic foundation they needed to succeed. Far too often, those children were denied admission.
She began to wonder: What if someone created a high-quality early childhood program that gave these students the foundation they needed?
The idea stayed with her. Eventually, she shared it with her friend and former teacher, Julie Mombello. Julie initially called her “nuts,” but then listened for six hours as my mom explained how the right educational opportunity could change a child’s life — just as it had changed my dad’s.
In 2011, The Adam J. Lewis Preschool was officially incorporated. Now, my mom needed a building, a permit and a staff.
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After searching for two years for the perfect place and recruiting her teacher friends, the Adam J. Lewis Preschool opened in Bridgeport in 2013 with just 12 students. The interest and support skyrocketed.
Most notably came support from my dad’s former employer, KBW. My mom reached out to them in hopes of getting them involved with the start of the school. KBW graciously sponsored the playground for the preschool, but it didn’t stop there. Tom Michaud, my dad’s close friend and colleague, and current CEO of KBW, continues to support the school to this day.
After gaining so much interest from donors and students alike, my mom decided to grow the school with each grade, reopening as the Adam J. Lewis Academy in 2018.
Pamela Einarsen Photography LLC
Today, AJLA has nearly 200 students from pre-K to eighth grade, and I could not be prouder of my mom. Each time I return to Connecticut to visit her and the school, I am in disbelief at how much she was able to accomplish and how impactful this institution has become.
My dad’s legacy has not only been physically enshrined in the name of the school, but his legacy lives on through the children.
Sept. 11, 2001, was an extraordinary and horrific tragedy, but with loss also comes new life, and I can only marvel at the impact AJLA is making on the children of today.
As Tom Michaud told me, “The story of 9/11 is not done being written,” and 25 years later, AJLA is writing new chapters with every student.