Outgoing autistic student EHS homecoming king Posted On: Monday, Nov. 2 2009 04:53 AM By Todd Martin
Special to the Daily Herald

Disabilities like autism can create a barrier from the world making it difficult to reach out and socialize with others.

In an inspiring embrace of acceptance on a mass scale, students at Ellison High School elected Jesse McKenzie their homecoming king, a young man with autism and an infectious outgoing attitude.

As Ellison's three candidates for homecoming king and queen walked to the middle of the football field at halftime of Friday's game, the packed student section chanted Jesse's name.

After the two runners-up were announced, Verna McKenzie embraced her son and friend Kyle Skinner clapped his hands in support.

McKenzie smiled widely as he bore the crown. The fans cheered their approval.

After standing for several photos on the sideline, Jesse indicated he was surprised and pleased and that he knew the sea of students cheering him on really cared about him.

Verna McKenzie said her son told her a year ago a friend of his wanted him to seek the homecoming title.

This year, several students gathered together to launch a campaign for McKenzie. Skinner, an Ellison senior and quarterback on the football team, was an early supporter.

He said McKenzie, who was in a dance class at Ellison, won over the school's Emeralds dance team and they helped begin pulling students into the McKenzie camp.

It wasn't difficult.

"He's just so confident," said Skinner. "He wasn't afraid to do it. He has a great personality. He's always smiling."

A high school quarterback might seem a more likely candidate to wear a crown on the sideline on homecoming, but Skinner said it was McKenzie who made a perfect representative for Ellison High School.

Jenny Zehr, the Emeralds director, said Friday night after the announcement that she was warmed by the student support for McKenzie, who took part in her dance classes this year and last year and danced with the Emeralds in their spring show.

"I'm so impressed with the student body," Zehr said. "He just works super hard."

Looking up at the packed student section, she said, "Everyone came together. A few kids met him in dance class, and the support just spread through the school."

During two pep rallies Thursday, the day before the homecoming football game and the big announcement, cheers erupted when McKenzie's name was called among the two other king candidates and three queen candidates.

The favorite was clear.

Verna McKenzie said all she's wanted for her son was acceptance, but with autism, sensitivity can take time.

Jesse McKenzie is just in his second year at Ellison, but his mother says the whole school has taken to him.

She said Skinner and Kara Connell and Allyson Gilmore, both Emeralds officers, took over the campaign, which included T-shirts and signs posted in the school during the homecoming voting.

"They got the whole school to get behind him," she said.

Skills teacher Deonta Daniels is McKenzie's primary teacher. He said the young man strives to do his best and to go beyond expectations.

"He's hardworking, he's respectable, he's respectful, he's outgoing," Daniels said.

"He never lets his disability stop him. He goes right up to people and talks."

When the homecoming election began, Daniels said he urged McKenzie to introduce himself to students and say hello.

"He did way more than that," the teacher said.

"The kids love him," Daniels said, adding that the other students in the skills class were excited to see him in the homecoming court.

"If you take the time to have one conversation with him, you fall in love with him," Daniels said.

On a cool Friday night on the Leo Buckley Stadium sidelines, a whole stadium seemed to love him and at Ellison High School, they made Jesse McKenzie king.