POSITIVELY WAVE: Students crown classmate with autism homecoming king

LANESVILLE, IN (WAVE) - Homecoming may have been a week ago, but students around Lanesville High School are still thinking about it.

Students voted for and crowned Peyton Wolfe, who has autism, as homecoming king on Feb. 8.

“It was awesome,” Ashton Smith, Peyton’s cousin, said.

Walking the halls of Lanesville High School, it’s easy to see how loved Peyton is by the number of people who say hello to him and he waves at.

“Nothing really fazes him. He doesn’t really care what other people think,” Smith said.

Macie Witt Haley has known Peyton since fist grade.

“We've always been close. And I have a cousin that's autistic so I kind of just clicked with him from the start,” Witt Haley said. “[He’s] someone I’ve always wanted to be around and I’m glad I have him in my life.”

Kevin DeSpain remembers meeting Peyton for the first time in second grade during recess.

“He actually came up to me and said hi and right then we just clicked,” DeSpain said.

Lanesville High School’s Physical Education Teacher Mikel Miller has taught Peyton since kindergarten.

“He’s a remarkable young man,” Miller said. “I think kids that have been around him, teachers that have had him in class, have really enjoyed his time, our time with him. I think he has made us a better person.”

On Friday, Feb. 8, Peyton Wolfe and Gracie Bolt were crowned Lanesville High School’s homecoming king and queen.

Immediately after his name was announced, Peyton started running up and down the gym, trying to get people to cheer more.

“I pumped the crowd up with their fists,” Peyton said.

DeSpain was on the court to crown the homecoming queen, watching it all unfold.

“As I go to crown Gracie, Peyton runs up to me and says ‘are we going to cheer for Peyton a loud cheer?’ and I said yeah Peyton we are,” DeSpain said.

Whitt Haley was also watching it all from the court, waiting to crown Peyton.

“He then came over and told me we need to cheer for him,” Witt Haley said. “When I tried to cap him he didn’t want to put the cap on. Then I told him he had to and it was good. He was very happy.”

Peyton’s parents, Mike and Mandy Wolfe, said Peyton has talked about walking to be homecoming king since he was a kid.

“He was a junior kid when he was in first grade,” Mandy said. “He loves for people to cheer for him and he knew that event would create a lot of people to cheer for him.”

Mike and Mandy said they didn’t know he would be nominated, but they are so thankful for Lanesville and the school.

“The kids have been like this forever with him. They’ve always been amazing with him,” Mandy said.

Peyton said he was really hoping for confetti after he was crowned, but knows it’s not allowed.

“No confetti is allowed in the gym,” Peyton said.

Peyton will graduate this spring from Lanesville High School.

Copyright 2019 WAVE 3 News. All rights reserved.