Tuesday, June 17, 2025
  • Advertise
  • Submit Story Idea
  • Submit Event
Arlington Today Magazine
  • Home
  • Categories
    • Arlington News
    • Community
    • Commentary
    • Business and Education
    • Featured
    • People
    • Wellness
    • Scene
    • Design and Interiors
    • Uncategorized
  • Current Issue & Digital Archives
  • Join the Newsletter
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
  • Login
  • Register
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Categories
    • Arlington News
    • Community
    • Commentary
    • Business and Education
    • Featured
    • People
    • Wellness
    • Scene
    • Design and Interiors
    • Uncategorized
  • Current Issue & Digital Archives
  • Join the Newsletter
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
Arlington Today Magazine
Home Arlington News

The boy from Sam stays

Kenneth Perkins by Kenneth Perkins
November 30, 2017
in Arlington News, Business and Education, Community, People
0 0
0
The boy from Sam stays

Justin Chapa is AISD’s newest trustee. (Photo: Kenneth Perkins)

0
SHARES
578
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Justin Chapa is AISD’s newest trustee. (Photo: Kenneth Perkins)

There are times when we hit our stride and simply know it, when what was hidden underneath rises to the surface, erupting like a just-discovered oil well. For Justin Chapa, that time was probably the summer sandwiched between his junior and senior years at Sam Houston High School.
Chapa was chosen to represent Texas as one of the two “senators” at Boys Nation, the annual weeklong confab known for molding bigwigs of government and leadership; President Bill Clinton, former NBC anchorman Tom Brokaw and a litany of governors and senators are alumni. It’s arguably the most selective educational gathering of teenage scholars anywhere.
Over a week, the boys are evenly split into fictional political parties. They draft platforms, elect officials, and nominate candidates for elections.
With 98 of the country’s top students reduced from 20,000, snagging the presidency is considered a coup of high order, and that’s exactly where Chapa found himself.
Or, as he put it recently, “I was simply the last man standing.”
Yeah, right. You might imagine that Boys Nation is wall-to-wall over-achievers. It’s not if they will ascend to Ivy League thrones, it’s when. Chapa, whose parents never attended college, had always been a curious kid, utterly content to devour a book on weekends instead of kicking around a ball.
Motivation wasn’t Chapa’s worry; some might call him the model child, although I get the feeling such a description would make him wildly uncomfortable. He’s humble, and if there’s a foible it might be that he’s an efficacious government enforcement and litigation lawyer with the good guy persona of Howdy Doody.
Boys Nation wasn’t necessarily Chapa’s world, but watching his mother work her way up from the loading docks at IBM to program manager taught him that your world is what you make it. So at Boys Nation he was matching the best of the best in debates, in speeches, in writings, in wit. Hmm. The boy from Sam didn’t seem all that different.
“Being able to hang with guys of that caliber, in my mind, I came back home thinking, hey, maybe I can apply and get in (Harvard) and do well,” he says.
He did get in, and he did do well, graduating with honors.
The fact that Chapa was recently appointed to Jamie Sullins’ vacant seat on the Arlington ISD School Board wasn’t at all shocking; being around to take the post is probably the revelation.
When Chapa left for Harvard and later Stanford Law School (a two-year stint with Teach for America fell in between), the bet was that the local boy making good would probably end up in the Bay Area or anywhere but Arlington. “It was actually an easy decision for my wife and I,” says Chapa, who works for the Dallas-based firm Morgan, Lewis and Backlus LLP, and is raising three children with wife Anna, whom he met at Sam Houston (Actually, at Atherton Elementary, although the running joke is that Anna doesn’t quite recall this.)
“The plan was always to return home. It’s a great place to live. Award-winning parks. Twenty minutes from the Children’s Museum in Fort Worth, 30 from Perot. Professional football, baseball. We’re not losing out being here.”
Arlington is better for it. The sleeves went up upon Chapa’s return. He’s served AISD dutifully on financial, bond and needs steering committees. He directed the Youth Leadership Arlington program for three years. He’s a Dad’s Club volunteer at Corey Fine Arts and Dual Language Academy, where two of his kids attend.
Looks as though Chapa will be around for a bit. Don’t be surprised if he re-ups for Sullins’ vacated seat next May and perhaps his own after that.

Columnist Kenneth Perkins has been a contributing writer for Arlington Today since it debuted. He is a freelance writer, editor and photographer.

Related posts

DeepDive

Welcome to our new “Deep Dive” audiomag!

June 8, 2025
Downtown Arlington Classic Car Show

Downtown Arlington Car Classic

June 8, 2025
Tags: AISDAISD trusteeArlington TodayWe Know Arlington
UTA April 2020

Follow Us

    The Instagram Access Token is expired, Go to the Customizer > JNews : Social, Like & View > Instagram Feed Setting, to refresh it.
  • Soon-to-open Mansfield H-E-B causes shopping frenzy

    Soon-to-open Mansfield H-E-B causes shopping frenzy

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Gregory “Pappy” Boyington

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • All Star Voting 2024

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • 12 Mighty Orphans: There’s a fascinating ‘story behind the story’ regarding this fine film

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Local moms share what makes the day special to them

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Arlington Texas Area News and Events Magazine

Follow us on social media:

Recent News

  • Welcome to our new “Deep Dive” audiomag!
  • Home Sweet Home
  • Downtown Arlington Car Classic

Category

  • Arlington News
  • Business and Education
  • Commentary
  • Community
  • Design and Interiors
  • Featured
  • People
  • Scene
  • Sports
  • Uncategorized
  • Wellness

Recent News

DeepDive

Welcome to our new “Deep Dive” audiomag!

June 8, 2025
Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home

June 8, 2025
  • Advertise
  • Submit Story Idea
  • Submit Event

© 2023 Arlington Today - Designed by

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Categories
    • Arlington News
    • Community
    • People
    • Commentary
    • Business and Education
    • Featured
    • Wellness
    • Scene
    • Design and Interiors
  • Current Issue & Digital Archives
  • Join the Newsletter
  • Contact Us

© 2023 Arlington Today - Designed by