Students choose classmate with DS as homecoming queen
October 12th, 2008
From the Dallas Morning News:
Eighteen-year-old Kristin Pass (center, left) was voted homecoming queen by members of the senior class at Aledo High School in Aledo, Texas, just west of Fort Worth. Kristin has Down syndrome.
“Oh my gosh! I was sitting in the student section and everyone stood up, crying and cheering for Kristin,” said longtime friend and fellow senior Meaghan Geary, 17, who first met Kristin in the third grade. “It was great!”
… Kristin doesn’t care what’s on the outside, Meaghan said. She’s friends with everyone, and everyone admires that.
“She’s the person we all want to be,” Meaghan said.
See also: Special teen crowned homecoming queen at Aledo — Ft. Worth Star-Telegram



October 19th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
When my son was a baby, I was holding him in my arms in a parking lot in our neighborhood as the local high school’s homecoming parade passed by. I remember looking so closely at the faces on the floats for a student with Down syndrome, and then thinking — of course, there will not be any kids with Down syndrome on any of the floats. Ouch.
He’s grown now. His mainstream classmates in high school, some lifelong friends from preschool and kindergarten, naturally expected him to be there in homecoming parades with them. Or maybe because he had an interest, they were there with him.
Kristin is a lovely queen. Thanks for sharing the story.