Brendan Lewis, Patch Staff

Email: Brendan.lewis@patch.com

Phone: 978-761-9568

Hometown: Tewksbury

Birthday: Oct. 17, 1982

Position: Editor of Andover Patch

Brendan grew up in the suburbs of North Tewksbury and attended private schools all his life. During his elementary years, he attended Notre Dame Academy and attended high school at St. John's Preparatory School. He later studied business at Quinnipiac University, achieving my B.S. in Business Management in 2005. However, during second semester senior year at Quinnipiac Brendan discovered a love for journalism and immediately began writing for the school newspaper. He worked in circulation at the Lowell Sun after graduating from Quinnipiac and eventually convinced editorial managers to allow him to freelance at the Lowell Sun. From there he eventually worked as a fulltime reporter in various towns in Middlesex County and Essex County for over four years at Community Newspaper Company. He has been an avid drummer/percussionist since adolescence and enjoys hiking and outdoor activities. He also achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in 2001.

Your Beliefs

My beliefs are simple but strong. I feel that everyone should be responsible for their own actions, and that includes admitting your responsibility even if it's indirect. Despite it being a cliché and hackneyed notion, I believe that communication is key. I've seen far too many things go wrong because two sides did not know how to communicate with each other, whether it's between two musicians in a band or two colleagues at work. I feel many problems can be solved with open lines of communication.

Politics

I'm not registered with a certain party. I feel that politics should be kept grounded in the issues they surround.

Religion

I'm not religious but I was raised Roman Catholic and received my confirmation. I'm not sure where religion stands in my life right now.

Local Hot-Button Issues

I think big issues in the community focus on keeping taxes down and services level. I think there is a push to regionalize services in general and I feel that communities should always give regionalization a chance when it knocks on their door. I think that town leaders should make budgeting priorities based on the will of the public and that universal state funding cuts should be spread equally across the town and school.