SEQUIM — Homecoming king today; tomorrow, who knows?
“He’s got the confidence to keep on going,” said Teresa Barrett, whose 17-year-old son Nick, who has Down syndrome, was elected the No. 1 guy at Sequim High School on Friday.
He learned last week that he’d received enough votes to be on the homecoming court, thanks to what his mother called “a snowball” of support from other students.
On Friday night, he learned he’d been elected homecoming king.
“It’s kind of amazing, having this happen,” Teresa Barrett said Saturday as Nick prepared to attend the homecoming dance in the school cafeteria.
“He’s been very excited. He’s having a lot of fun.”
She said her son was more excited by the runup to Friday night’s coronation at the football game against Port Angeles than by the ceremony itself.
“He was pretty quiet. He didn’t seem to feel too insecure about it, but he didn’t seem shocked,” she said.
Nick’s friend, Kevyn Ward, had been the sparkplug for the campaign that swept Nick to the crown, she said.
Another candidate, Evan Hurn, even asked students to vote for Nick, Teresa Barrett said.
Nick, who started attending Sequim High three years ago, is on the wrestling team. He says he’d like to go to work at Safeway and to attend Peninsula College.
Jen Krumpe, who teaches life skills to special needs students at Sequim High, said faculty and staff had nothing to do with Nick’s election.
“This was all the kids rallying together,” she said.
Teresa Barrett, a para-educator in the high school’s agriculture department, said she and her son were thrilled by the cheer he received at a pep assembly Friday afternoon and at the football game.
She said students wanted to hold onto the good feelings they reaped by choosing her son.
“I’d just like to keep this ball rolling,” she said.
“It’s such a positive direction, and it really speaks to what can happen when people start supporting each other.
“It’s kind of brought a whole new life to the student body.”
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Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com.
