SEQUIM — Sequim High School students have rallied behind a special needs senior who was voted onto the homecoming royal court.
Nick Barrett, 17, a senior, was born with Down syndrome in Portland, Ore., and moved to Sequim in 2013.
He learned this week he had garnered enough votes from the student body to secure a seat on the royal court.
Friday night, he will find out if he will be crowned as king during the homecoming varsity football game between the Sequim Wolves and the Port Angeles Roughriders.
“In order to even run for this, you had to be nominated by a majority of the student body, and it was nothing that adults did,” said Jen Krumpe, who teaches life skills to special needs students at Sequim High School.
“This was all the kids rallying together, and this is what happened,” Krumpe said.
Barrett said he was surprised by being voted onto the royal court and is excited by the support from his fellow students.
“I think [Nick] is a big inspiration for everyone to know he is just a normal kid,” said Kevyn Ward, 17, senior.
Ward has been friends with Barrett since the latter moved here two years ago and joined the wrestling team.
“The kid never stops smiling,” Ward said.
“He is here every day. He can graduate and get a job. No matter what you are put through, you can do it.
“He can get pinned in 30 seconds, win the match or make it all three rounds and that kid will still come off the mat like he just won a state championship — just all smiles.”
Since seeking a position on the royal court, Barrett has become a kind of celebrity at the campus, Ward said.
“It is really cool for me to see that because he is getting out there and everyone is knowing who he is instead of just being a kid that walked around the high school that no one really knew.”
When Barrett walks to class, he needs a little extra time because of all the people stopping to greet him, said his mother, Terry Barrett, 56, a para-educator in the school’s agriculture department.
“He walks out to go to class and has to spend a little extra time because people stop and give him hugs and say hi to him every day on the way to class,” she said. “It is just amazing.”
She added that she is proud of the Sequim High students who have rallied around her son.
“That is the whole point of this, the magic that is coming out of this, because kids are not being told to do this,” she said.
“When it comes to this . . . they are showing up in a way that is just very heartfelt and it has . . . opened up an opportunity for people to do good things, and [Nick] is loving it.”
Krumpe said Nick fills her classroom “so full of joy.”
“He brings a lot of life to this room, and he always works so hard in everything — all his academics and all his electives. I am really proud of him.”
Nick is the youngest of five children and has one brother and three sisters. One of his sisters died recently, his mother said.
None of his siblings has attended Sequim High.
Raising Nick has been “pretty awesome,” his mother said.
“It has kept me busy, but it hasn’t been hard. It has been fun. Nicholas is actually a lot of fun,”she said.
“He gives me different challenges, but I get to have experiences I never dreamed I was going to have. It has just been delightful.”
When her son was little, the scariest part for Terry Barrett was the fear he “would not be treated well and not be included,” she said.
But that has not been the case, she remarked.
“It seems like good things keep coming out of this, and he has really taught me that we all show up the way we were really meant to be, and that is what brings the right things back to us,” she said.
“It just seems like it continues to draw the best people together.”
Barrett said he plans to work at the local Safeway and attend Peninsula College after graduation.
The football game begins at 7 p.m. at the Sequim High stadium, 601 N. Sequim Ave.
Tickets are available at the gate.
They are $6 for adults, $4 for senior citizens older than 60, $6 for high school and middle school students without a student activities card and $4 with a card, $4 for elementary school students and free for preschool children.
The royal court members will be announced during the halftime celebration and will receive their royal accoutrements at that time.
This year’s court members are freshmen Nathan Despain and Erin Gordon; sophomores Aylee Bennett and Hayden Gresli; juniors Rose Erikson and Curtis Beery; and seniors Barrett, Katie Rogers, Karen Chan, Jack Shea, McKenzie Bentz and Evan Hurn.
They also will make an appearance at the homecoming dance Saturday night at the school cafeteria.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
