Autistic teen represents class at Boulder City homecoming

Mona Shield Payne / Special to the Sun

Homecoming court freshman representative Jordan Honey, who is autistic, hugs his homecoming princess, Verli Doing, upon seeing her and presenting her with flowers before they ride in the homecoming parade Thursday night in Boulder City.

By Jean Reid Norman (contact)

Friday, Oct. 2, 2009 | 4:09 a.m.

Thursday was a big day for Jordan Honey. The Boulder City High School freshman took the soccer field during a game for the first time since making the junior varsity team.

Following that, he climbed into the back of a convertible and rode in a parade from Boulder City High to the annual homecoming bonfire in a vacant lot next to the fire station, 1101 Elm St.

The 14-year-old autistic boy, who doctors said 10 years ago would be institutionalized by now, is a homecoming attendant, elected overwhelmingly to represent the freshman class in the parade, during halftime festivities at the football game Friday night and at the homecoming dance Saturday night. He will escort freshman homecoming princess Verli Doing.

It was a gesture that shows how far Jordan has come and the spirit of the freshman class and Boulder City High’s student body, his mother, Pam Honey, said.

“I gave him the tools, but his class gave him the opportunity to succeed,” Honey said. “They made it happen.”

Doctors originally told Honey her son was mentally retarded and would need to be institutionalized by the time he was a teenager, she said. The boy was diagnosed as autistic at age 5, and she researched autism and worked on getting him treatment to bring him out of himself.

“He couldn’t talk, but he could play video games. I knew there was something up there,” she said.

Throughout his schooling in Boulder City, his peers always accepted him, even when he wasn’t easy to accept, Honey said. When new kids would call him names, inevitably someone would come to his defense and make it clear he was not to be picked on, she said.

“They stuck up for him since he was in kindergarten,” Honey said.

Even with that kind of support, Honey said, it took Jordan until junior high to make friends, because he didn’t have the social skills until then. He has learned how to emulate the good behavior of his peers to build those skills, she said.

Students who gathered for the homecoming parade and bonfire exhibited the acceptance Honey said her son has experienced.

“He’s nice to everybody,” said Corbett Fleming, vice president of the freshman class. “He doesn’t mess around or anything. He’s cool.”

Junior Emily Hewitt, 16, said she was afraid when she first heard the news that it might be a joke meant to hurt his feelings, but it became clear quickly that it was not.

“Everybody was worried about his reaction,” she said. But once his delight at the honor became known, she and her friends breathed a sigh of relief.

“He’s always really happy and nice,” Hewitt said. “He deserved to win.”

Senior Bridget Ward, 17, agreed.

“It was really cool,” she said.

As Jordan and Verli rode in the back of the freshman royalty convertible in the parade, they fell behind, because every few feet someone would stop the car and ask for a photo. The freshman float ended up a football field-length ahead of them as the photos continued.

The car pulled into the bonfire site with the rest of the parade, and Jordan disappeared into the crowd waiting for the rally’s climax: the torching of wooden pallets stacked about 20 feet high.

After the fire was blazing, he talked about the honor his peers had given him and riding in the parade.

“It was just great,” he said, adding he had been interviewed for television news earlier in the day and could not wait to be on TV. While he spoke, an aunt took a photo of him being interviewed.

The music shifted to “Billie Jean,” and Jordan danced.