[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 17 (Tuesday, February 11, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1240-S1242]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS
______
TRIBUTE TO ERICA MICHELLE PITTS
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, each fall, Senators and
Congressmen turn to the enjoyable task of submitting nominations to the
U.S. Service Academies. This year, like every other, my office was
flooded with applications from qualified young men and women--students
with excellent academic records, students whose extracurricular
activities would drive the most patient parent crazy, students who
donate endless hours to community service projects. However, rarely do
I see a young person possessing all of this and more.
This year I proudly nominated Erica Michelle Pitts, of Louisville,
KY, to the U.S. Military Academy, as did Senator Wendell Ford and then-
Congressman Mike Ward. There are many adjectives that can be used to
describe Erica--poised, accomplished, brave, athletic, energetic, but
even combined they do not adequately portray her. A senior at Saint
Francis High School, Erica's headmaster Thomas Pike describes her as
``a delightfully different young person.'' Counselor Kit Llewellyn sees
her as a ``risk-taker'' and admires her integrity.
[[Page S1241]]
Erica's military career dreams began at the age of 6 when her
stepfather took her for a tank ride. At the tender young age of 8 she
began working for her mother's boss formatting computer disks for $5 an
hour. Entering as a seventh-grader at the respected Saint Francis, she
was immediately placed in the freshman class, where, lacking a girls
basketball team, Erica played on the boy's team. She has participated
in a Russian exchange program, the Duke University Talent
Identification Program, and served on the Courier-Journal High School
Round Table. And, amidst her participation on the academic team and the
yearbook staff, Erica works part-time at the Louisville Science Center
yearround.
As you can see, Erica's childhood has been far from average.
Notwithstanding, she has grown into a graceful young woman whose lofty
dreams have been realized. Hoping to enter the Judge Advocate General's
Corps after her years at West Point, Erica aspires to serve on the
Supreme Court or be elected President. Both goals are well within her
grasp.
Mr. President, please join me in honoring this outstanding young
Kentuckian who has a bright future in the U.S. military. I ask that an
article which recently appeared in the Louisville Courier-Journal be
printed in the Record. The author does a wonderful job of capturing
Erica's charm and enthusiasm.
The article follows:
Getting to the Point
(By C. Ray Hall)
At first blush, the most interesting thing about Erica
Pitts is this: Barely 17, she is headed for the United States
Military Academy to join West Point's legendary long gray
line.
It will probably be the grayest thing that has ever
happened to her. So far, her life has been like a
colorsplashed, abstract work of art in progress.
Erica Pitts has been interesting for a long time. She was
interesting even in the womb.
``I was named after a soap-opera character,'' she said.
``Because I was trouble. My mom went into labor and so she
went to the hospital.''
False alarm.
``They sent her back home. Then I was about ready to pop
out so they called the ambulance. I was almost born in the
ambulance. I was almost born outside on the way into the
hospital. I was almost born in the lobby. I was almost born
in the elevator, but finally they got her to a delivery room
and I was born. I made life a little difficult for her.''
Hence the name, Erica: ``Yeah, Erica Kane. Because I was
trouble.''
Not even a minute old, and her life was already a
cliffhanger.
Next scene in Erica's life: the beginning of an unlikely
romance. At Fort Knox, of all places. In a tank, of all
things.
``It started when I was about 6. My mom had married my
stepdad. He was in the Army and he took me for a tank ride
one day and I just thought that was the coolest thing. I
admired the discipline in the Army.''
Next scene: Erica gets her first paying job, earning $5 an
hour to format computer disks for her mom's boss at the
Internal Revenue Service. She is 8.
Next scene: Erica is stepfatherless, owing to divorce. She
and her mom, Pamela Scott, are living in Louisville. Erica
masters public school effortlessly. ``I was so used to just
showing up for class, reading the newspaper during first
period and not doing any work all day and still getting an A
in every single class I took.'' So her mom takes Erica to St.
Francis, a downtown school of high academic reputation and
equally stratospheric cost (tuition up to $8,140).
Headmaster Thomas Pike recalled, ``I remember her and her
mom coming in and her talking about not being academically
challenged, talking about being an environmental lawyer or
biochemist. This is a seventh-grader. Just a really bright,
lively 13-year-old, and she has been lively and bright ever
since . . . a delightfully different young person.''
St. Francis took her and let her skip from the seventh to
the ninth grade. (``A double bonus,'' Erica said.)
``Her life has always been action-packed,'' said school
counselor Kit Llewellyn. ``She's a skateboarder, a volleyball
player, a basketball player. She volunteers regularly. . . .
She has worked on literary magazines, so her literary
analysis is strong and indepth. . . .
``She's kind of a risk-taker. She likes to start things.
She participated in crew (rowing) when it was founded. She's
the first female from this school to entertain the idea of
applying to a military academy.''
And yet, somewhere in that swirl of action, there's a
cerebral center.
``I guess what stands out with me for Erica is her
integrity,'' Llewellyn said. ``I was her sponsor at Calvary
Episcopal Church when she went through the confirmation. For
her age (then 15), her questions and her depth of
understanding, what she was pursuing in her belief and in her
spiritual self, was very strong. Well-thought-out and very,
very calm in her approach.''
Oh. And did we mention she wants to be president?
Of the United States. Like the current occupant of the Oval
Office, she likes lawyering. And, like Bill Clinton, she went
to Russia at a tender age, as part of an exchange program.
Erica was nominated to West Point last year by then-
Congressman Mike Ward. For the physical test, she returned to
Fort Knox, the scene of her first infatuation with the Army.
She passed the exam, which includes running, throwing a
basketball while on your knees and hanging on a chin-up bar.
Some girls immediately drop off the bar. She held on for 31
seconds.
The audience included Lt. Col. Don Miller, an Army
reservist who serves as a West Point liaison (and, in another
life, helps run a Louisville brokerage). After interviewing
her, he wrote to the academy, ``Erica is a very goal-oriented
young lady with aspirations of becoming president someday. .
. . Erica has excellent people skills and appears to possess
good leadership traits. Her mother raised Erica alone and
this has resulted in sacrifice, and yet has developed her
sense of commitment.''
So this is a 17-year-old of greater complexity than most.
During her trip to Russia, she bought a fur hat. She felt bad
about it when she realized rabbits had died to decorate her
head. She thinks the country spends too much on defense. She
clashed openly with a 10th-grade teacher, but she has a kind
word even for Adolf Hitler. (``He was psycho, but he was a
brilliant, brilliant ruler.'')
This is not your father's West Point cadet.
``She's a free spirit,'' said Bryan Walde, the man who
teaches her calculus, chemistry and basketball at St.
Francis. In her graduating class of 38, the animal-loving,
defense-cutting, coffeehouse-and-concert habitue might have
been voted least likely to go to West Point.
``I heard that a lot,'' she said.
`` `You were the last person I thought would ever go
there.' A lot of the people I know are not really anti-
government, but they don't like people telling them what to
do. I don't really like it myself, but I do need the
discipline. I would love to have the discipline. And it's one
of the best schools in the country. Who would turn that
down?''
West Point told her the price of the education awaiting
her. ``They valued it as $200,000, which I wouldn't doubt,
because I think West Pointers can easily top people who go to
Harvard.''
That's obviously the kind of talk they like to hear on the
cliffs overlooking the Hudson River. Not that they actually
like to hear much talk at all from first-year cadets, or
``plebes.'' For a while at West Point, she will speak only
when bidden. Too bad, for she has lots to say. To wit:
On her willowy yet well-fed frame of 5 feet 10 inches, 120
pounds:
``I eat a lot. This morning for breakfast, I had a
cheeseburger, two pancakes and a cinnamon roll. . . .
On love, sex and all that:
``I manage to stay friends with all of my ex-boyfriends.
It's really strange. I think partially because there's never
any reason for either of us to be really bitter. I don't
sleep with anybody. I just decided no sex before marriage. So
I never had to worry about sleeping with somebody and then
the next morning they just totally ditch me. There's never
any big thing to get really mad about. It's just a bunch of
little things that lead up to you saying, `You know, maybe we
shouldn't be together.' So you can just go back to being
friends.''
On her idea of cool wheels:
``I want a big Dodge Ram truck as soon as I can get a
car.'' (She calculates that that will be three years hence,
with the down payment saved from her West Point stipend of
$6,600 a year.)
On her mixed parentage, the result of a college romance
that never led to marriage. A delicate matter?
``It never has been. People have asked me about that for a
long time. They've asked me if I was mixed and it's never
bothered me. I've never really worried about it. Yeah, my
dad's white, my mom's black. . . . It's never been a big deal
to me.''
On her twin ambitions, of being a lawyer and a
psychologist:
``I love to argue. That's what appeals to me about being a
lawyer. And I love using words . . . to get a point across. I
want to be a psychologist because I'm so used to doing that:
There are so many people with problems. My friends always
come to me for advice.''
What's the best advice anyone gave her?
``You've got to learn to choose your battles and not fight
every single one. That's some good advice I got from my
mother. . . . For a while, every time somebody did something
I didn't like, I was ready to argue with them. I didn't get
into fistfights or anything, but I kind of verbally berated
my teacher sophomore year, sometimes in front of his class.
He didn't like that very much. That's when I learned to start
controlling my temper. I felt kind of bad, although I think
he kind of deserved some of that, although in front of his
class was really mean.''
On the prospects of harassment or hazing from macho
military males:
``The sexual harassment thing, I think I would have the
guts to just stand up and say, `Hey, I don't like it. Stop.'
Being hazed and stuff like that, once it got to a dangerous
point where people were setting me on fire, I would just have
to like fight back, period. I would not allow somebody to set
me on fire
[[Page S1242]]
as part of a hazing ritual. I think I'm strong enough to
handle anything that might be thrown at me as a hazing
ritual.''
Hazing? Been there, done that, in a non-incendiary way. On
a basketball court, of all places.
``My favorite moment came freshman year,'' she said. ``We
didn't have a girls' team yet, so I had to play on the boys'
team. We were playing against a team that was very, very,
very chauvinist. . . . I got in with about a minute 40 left,
and they were not treating me very well. At first my
teammates wouldn't even pass me the ball, and finally one of
'em did. I just stood back behind the three-point line, shot
and it went right in. Swish. It was perfect. We still lost
the game, but I felt better.''
Next scene in Erica's life: November 1996. The IRS
transfers Erica's mom to Nashville. ``She and her mother have
been a team through the years--her mom with pretty high
expectations and Erica living up to them,'' said Llewellyn,
the St. Francis counselor.
Erica stays behind to graduate from her school. She lives
with her grandma, Ellen Pitts. ``She's been pretty great. I
have my own loft, and it's really nice. It's not very big,
but it's nice. I've got a computer and a desk and my futon up
there, and that's all I really need.''
For now, at least, she dreams in a loft. But soon enough,
the dreams will be aloft. And Erica Pitts' life will get even
more interesting.
____________________