An education in inquiry

By Brianna Miron ’26

Brad Lewis ’87 and Kristen Fleschutz Lewis ’86

In his many years working as a high school history teacher, Brad Lewis ’87 never gave an assignment that stopped at providing dates, facts, and definitions, which are merely the building blocks of history. Lewis was more interested in challenging his students to answer questions about the processes of historical development. Instead of asking “what,” “when,” or “where,” he always prompted them to understand “why” and “how.”

This inquisitive attitude is a trait Lewis connects to his time at Lafayette. Throughout his undergraduate years, Lewis discovered how Lafayette’s smaller size, encouragement of open discussion, and commitment to providing a well-rounded liberal arts education equipped him to cultivate investigation and critical thinking in his own students. Lewis can still remember how the late Prof. Andrew C. Fix urged him and his classmates to think about the past beyond a surface level in History of Western Thought, challenging them to identify the threads of human nature that ran from ancient Greece to the writing of the U.S. Constitution. “I would say there’s a direct link between that class, Prof. Fix, and my career in teaching history,” Lewis reflects. 

Kristen Fleschutz Lewis ’86 is pictured as a rising senior with her grandfather, Roswell Corwin ’25, and great uncle, Harold Corwin ’35, when they were on campus for their 50th and 60th reunions.

This questioning of “why” and “how” followed Lewis outside of the classroom. He credits his core values to two pivotal classroom experiences: investigating the perspectives of others and distilling his own arguments to their essence. “I am always wondering how people think the way they do,” he explains. This is a thought process that has stuck with him throughout his work in fundraising for educational institutions, in conversations with friends and family, and every morning when he reads the newspaper. 

In addition to teaching Lewis the value of asking “why,” Lafayette instilled in him the practice of asking “why not?” His extracurricular activities were just as formative as his academics—providing opportunities he never dreamed he’d have. Upon his arrival at Lafayette from Whitefish Bay, Wisc., he quickly took advantage of all the possibilities the campus had to offer. “I loved it because I could be a leader in a variety of things,” he says, “and it was a small enough place that I could experiment with who I was and who I was becoming.” As a resident adviser, one of his ventures outside of his comfort zone included taking his residents pumpkin picking with fellow resident advisers. Little did Lewis know that one of the fellow resident advisers on the trip, Kristen Fleschutz ’86, would end up becoming his wife.

Brad Lewis ’87 was featured in the March 7, 1986 issue of The Lafayette for his participation in Madrigal Dinners.

Another of Lewis’ forays into the unfamiliar was starring as the lead in the school’s theater production of Amphitryon 38. While he may have forgotten a few lines of dialogue here and there, he describes the production as a “great learning experience.” In addition to working as a resident adviser and acting in various theater productions on campus, Lewis participated in choir, chorale, marching band, and fraternity life. 

Through his time and experiences at Lafayette, Lewis came to understand that undergraduate institutions are responsible not only for the students they send into the workforce, but for the people and minds they send out into the world. Lafayette provided Lewis, and continues to provide students, with the ideal environment and encouragement to explore their interests and clarify their values during a critical time in their lives. “My worldview is informed by so many things I studied in college, and I think this is what a good liberal arts education can do,” Lewis reflects.

Lewis’ support for the educational ideal is apparent through his own career as a teacher, his work as a fundraiser for educational institutions, and his continued support of Lafayette College. Nearly 40 years after walking across the stage at his own graduation, Lewis continues to support the College to ensure future generations of students can have the same space for questioning, discussion, and experimentation that defined his experience.