It was April 7, election night in DeKalb. Jessica Lyons, candidate for the DeKalb School Dist. 428 School Board, didn’t want a play-by-play account of the results.

“People kept calling me,” she said. “I said not to tell me until the fat lady sings.”

Fortunately for the junior sociology major, she didn’t hear the tally until one of her opponents, Mellodie Howard-Powell, called to congratulate her by saying, “Jessica, you did it.”

How Lyons got to be a member of the school board still perplexes her. When asked if she has any idea how she won, she responded with a simple, “No.” But hearing her story will likely provide the answer for most.

Saying that Lyons is just an active member of the community doesn’t do her justice. She has been a substitute teacher, has worked with autistic children, taught dance at local schools, attends and watches city council meetings, is a member of the DeKalb chapter of the NAACP and the Latino Action Group and started a dance studio for less-fortunate children.

“People don’t realize how important it is to have those extracurricular activities for their children,” Lyons said.

The 27-year-old single mother of four said she wants to make the community and school district ideal places for children to grow up in.

“She’s a phenomenal mother,” said LaMetra Curry, coordinator of recruitment services for the College of Education, who has children in the district. “I think that she’s going to be a fair and powerful voice on the school board.”

Lyons says she got her work ethic from her mother and doesn’t “know what just sitting at home means.” She graduated from Rich East High School in Park Forest at 16. Then, to make sure college would be paid for, she joined the National Guard, serving for six years.

During her last two years when she was inactive, she began attending NIU as a special education major. But four years in, she had to withdraw because her kids were sick. She returned this semester in hopes of becoming a counselor.

“I watch her with the girls – it’s amazing,” said Derrick Smith, academic counselor for the Center for Black Studies, referring to Lyons’ dance students. “So many girls have low self-esteem. She’s always having the time for them.”

Lyons will be sworn in May 4. She said she’s looking to keep the promises she made during her campaign, when she was knocking on doors, talking to organizations and groups within the community, asking what the issues were.

“Tell me,” she would say. “Let me be the voice.”