ELKTON, Md. — He first picked up a guitar two years ago, and now, Justin Leon has mastered a piece by Metallica.
“I just started trying to teach myself how to play and it’s just gotten a little bit better from there,” said Leon.
14-year-old Katie Betrond of Perryville gains her strength through song.
“I am one of those people who struggle with depression, anxiety and a load of other things,” Betrond told us, “When Em Beihold created that song, I was like, ‘This is a door opener. I see that I’m not the only one who has these issues.”
Students grabbed the spotlight at the Elkton Neighborhood Community Center with the return of the High Road Schools’ Autism Awareness Fine Art Festival.
The students participating in the festival range from the fourth grade all the way up to the twelfth grade and they represent the Mid-Atlantic Region encompassing both Maryland and Delaware.
Students celebrated at festival in Cecil County
“Some of our students are not communicative,” said High Road Schools Regional Director Louis Guertin, “Some students just feel not that passionate or that motivated toward speaking out so the fact that they can get up and come in front of an audience, whether it’s small or huge, and just get on screen and express themselves the way they want is just amazing.”
While some students are autistic and others have emotional or intellectual disabilities, they share one thing in common.
“I want people to know that they’re not different,” said Elizabeth Brannon, mother to two autistic sons, “They’re the same. They just see things differently, and it’s not comfortable for them when you treat them differently or you label them a certain way.”
On this day, you could call them fearless, unbridled and pure of heart, just as they are every day.
