The Georgetown Eagles played host to Leander tonight. But it's what happened at last week's Homecoming game that's still bringing smiles to the faces of everyone in attendance. Two students are at the center of this feel good story.
Jared Friemel, decked out in his king's crown and sash, can't help but break into a smile as he kneels next to his queen, Gracie Kiltz. Both Gracie and Jared were born with severe down syndrome. Jared had open heart surgery at age two. At the same age, Gracie's heart flat-lined for 20 minutes after a battle with Leukemia. She suffered major brain damage and the prognosis wasn't good.
"Her smile is a gift because she was not supposed to live," said Erin Kiltz, Gracie's mother.
Both Gracie and Jared are now 18 and attend the special needs program at Georgetown High School. Recently the student body voted them to the homecoming court.
"I mean if you could have told us then that this would happen, there's no way we would think it would have been possible," said Kiltz.
John Kiltz remembers walking his eldest daughter to that same 50 yard line just five years earlier when she on the homecoming court. She was not named queen, but this time things would be different.
"Someone had said she won in a landslide, I mean to me, I was on the field with her and I said, I kept whispering in her ear, Gracie, you know I'm so proud of you," said John Kiltz, as he held back tears.
Sharing in the joy were Gracie and Jared's peer buddies, who spend hours with them each week at the high school.
"They called his name and he jumped up, threw his hands in the air, waved and just took off running," said Price Vasquez, Jared's peer buddy.
"Then as soon as everybody starts clapping she gets it, she's like, 'Yes, Yes,' she understands it, right Gracie," said Lauren Walter, Gracie's peer buddy.
Gracie and Jared's parents say what the students at Georgetown High School did has renewed their hope in this generation.
"My emotions were running wild were running wild but all I can do and all I did that night was say thank you Georgetown," said Charlotte Friemel, Jared's mother.
"They understand that these kids have value and they have contributions to make and they have a voice that you just have to learn how to hear that voice," said Erin Kiltz.
