Warren High students rally to elect their homecoming king
DOWNEY – In a rousing group effort, the Warren High School Bears came together to help a very special young man take his seat as king of Homecoming Court.
Victor Tellez is a senior at Warren, part of the special education program. Tellez, who has Down syndrome, often spends many of his days socializing with members of the campus Teen Connect Club.
According to club advisor Christine Spino, the purpose of the club is to build a bridge between special education and general education students.
“I have about 250 general ed students who come to the club,” said Spino. “They’re the most amazing kids ever. They plan all these activities weekly, and it gives my kids an opportunity to have every high school experience.”
With homecoming just around the corner, several club members took it upon themselves to try and give one particular student – Tellez – one of the ultimate high school experiences.
“My leadership team came to me and asked if they could do it,” said Spino. “…they all just got on their Twitter and sent his picture out and asked [all the students] to nominate him…”
Senior Stephanie Errichetto, who was also a member of the homecoming court, was one of the students who helped plant the seeds of Tellez’s nomination.
“He’s really sweet,” said Errichetto. “He would always talk about the dances…he had told me last week, when everything started and he found out he was running, he came up to me and said ‘Thank you for Homecoming.’ It was really sweet.”
Prior to the game, Tellez, an avid sports fan, had said that he was most excited about watching the football game and for his part of the Homecoming festivities during halftime. When the special moment came, Tellez was escorted out in front of the Justice Stadium crowd by his brother Rudy.
The excitement only grew as Tellez was then crowned the Homecoming King.
“Everyone just loves Victor," said Spino, "and they just did it…."