Cause Transforms Woodbridge Teen Into Activist Leader

At Freedom High, which has more than 1,100 students, it was a minority -- 250 to 350 students, virtually all Hispanic -- that participated in the protests. Nearly 40 percent of Freedom's students are Hispanic, the highest percentage of any Prince William high school. Federal law bars officials from asking about family documentation, so it's unknown how many students have a parent illegally in the country. Thirty-four percent of students are black, 20 percent are non-Hispanic white and about 5 percent are Asian or Pacific Islanders.

Racial tension at Freedom typically manifests itself in segregated seating during lunch, but the recent rallies may have inflamed feelings somewhat.

Candice Dickerson, 16, a black sophomore whose mother heads the school's parent-teacher-student organization, speculated that if blacks staged the same kind of protests, they would be dealt stricter punishments. "The police wouldn't walk with us, and they would probably lock us up and send us to jail," she said. "Hispanics made it seem like they're the only ones. There are immigrants who come from Africa."

During the protests, Lemus, who learned about the immigration bills on CNN.com and television news, was effective in controlling the crowd and riling it back up again. "Yo! Yo! Yo! Calm down. I need everybody to calm down," he belted through a megaphone as the crowd chanted "Huggy! Huggy!" in unison.

"The fact that everyone showed up -- yo, man, that's ridiculous," he yelled. "It doesn't matter where you're from. Just hug each other!"

Lemus said he thinks his school's major problem is that not enough is done to give students who feel marginalized enough attention or power. He said he hopes to run for student government president -- at the urging of school officials who were impressed by the way he led protests -- and form a coalition of Hispanic students across Northern Virginia.

"Now more so than before, he will be looked up on more. He has earned this newfound respect, not just from Latino students, but from other students in the building as well," said Madre Mack, Freedom's assistant principal. "Some of his teachers were talking to him about his skills and how he needs to utilize them on a more daily basis rather than just one particular event. I told him that I was going to stay on him."

Lemus's newfound celebrity sometimes makes him a bit concerned about his image. "Yo, the Potomac News only said I had a 'modicum' of power. What does that mean?" he asked one day.

His mother, who has a green card and is studying English and civics to earn citizenship, said she is proud that Lemus became so impassioned but wants him to buckle down. "My dream is that he becomes a doctor," she said.

Lemus, however, is thinking that he'd like to go to college and one day serve as a judge. He likes to keep busy, which may be what propels him forward or pushes him back.

"Right now, in English, we're reading Edgar Allan Poe, but I don't read literature. If it's interesting, I'll read it," he said, sitting at the booth at Brittany's. "I don't have the attention span to read a whole book. I don't like to get bored. I do a lot of stuff."