SEQUIM — After singing at Boys & Girls Clubs events across the nation this summer, Sequim’s Pearle Peterson is taking to the world stage this weekend.
The 18-year-old is set to sing the National Anthem before Major League Baseball’s World Series on Saturday in Arlington, Texas, before Game 2 between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers.
Major League Baseball made the announcement on Wednesday, with Grammy Award-winning singer H.E.R. set to perform “The Star-Spangled Banner” before Game 1 on Friday.
Peterson sings at 4:45 p.m. on Saturday; the game airs locally on Q13 FOX.
“The gravity of it all really hasn’t soaked in yet,” Peterson said Wednesday.
“It’s a huge opportunity coming from a small town like Sequim and go to this big event.
“I’m so excited to be there as a club kid and as a kid of the Sequim community.”
Sequim’s Carroll C. Kendall Unit, 400 W. Fir St., will host a viewing party in its Teen Room with pizza starting at 4:30 p.m. Saturday; the event is open to the public.
Peterson, who was surprised to learn of the opportunity on Oct. 17 from Boys & Girls Clubs of America CEO and President Jim Clark via a Zoom call, said she thought she was coming in to only talk about singing for the Sequim club’s upcoming dinner and auction.
“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I didn’t know what I was going to be told.”
Peterson, her parents Jason and Kelsie and 14-year-old sister Victoria will fly from Seattle on Friday morning to Texas, she said.
Mary Budke, executive director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula, said if someone were to ask her what it would take to get to the World Series, she’d say 11 months.
“That’s been Pearle’s ride: she’s made this happen through her determination and hard work,” Budke said.
“The clubs have opened the doors, and she’s gone through the doors and to another planet.”
Peterson, a high school senior and Sequim club member for 11 years, attributes a lot to the Boys & Girls Clubs.
When she moved to Sequim, Peterson said, the club provided her a place to go after school, dependable meals and homework help along with friends and programming.
It’s also helped having friends go through similar struggles, and mentors and confidants at the club who helped her “grow up in an environment where I could be authentic,” Peterson said in a previous interview.
While singing has always been a passion for her, this path opened last year when Peterson sang at the Olympic Peninsula clubs’ annual auction.
She was encouraged to submit audition videos and a biography to become a National Youth Talent Performer. She was chosen in January, and in May, she performed in Orlando, Fla., at the Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s 117th National Conference.
There, she was voted by her peers at the National Conference to receive the Aryana Pizarro “Fly Right” Award — named in honor of the first National Youth Talent Ambassador who died in a car wreck.
As a National Youth Talent Performer, Peterson sang this summer in Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, Lake Tahoe, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Calif., and New York.
Boys & Girls Clubs of America executives heard her sing a few times in person, including a New York performance in early October when she sang “If I can Dream,” a song written by Walter Earl Brown and made famous by Elvis Presley.
Now the three-time Olympic Region Youth of the Year, Peterson earned her first job at the club helping with the Summer Food Program in Carrie Blake Community Park.
She also served as the Sequim City Council student liaison, and she balanced her busy summer schedule working part-time at Sherwood Assisted Living, where she’s become the weekend activity coordinator.
Peterson said she tries to visit the Sequim club every day.
“I’ve got to make time for my friends,” she said.
The Teen Club does community service at the Sequim Food Bank on Tuesdays, too.
Budke said Peterson encompasses three core traits, “a hard work ethic, natural ability and a fire in the belly.”
Peterson said she plans to seek a degree at Gonzaga University after graduating from high school. Her area of concentration varies, but she wants to pursue music in some capacity.
Peterson also will perform at the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula Auction and Dinner on Saturday, Nov. 11, at the Sequim club.
For more about the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula, visit bgc-op.org.
