Armuchee’s Christopher Dean wins ACE
The teen with Asperger’s Syndrome will graduate in May.
Christopher Dean, a senior at Armuchee High School who was diagnosed at a young age with a form of autism known as Asperger’s Syndrome, was named the Rome Exchange Club’s Accepting the Challenge of Excellence Award winner Friday. The award is given to a student who has overcome serious issues in life to be able to graduate from high school and has a clear vision for what he, or she, wants to do in the future.
The other contestants in the competition Friday
included Jasmine Johnson from Unity Christian School, Destiny Paris-Cartwright from Coosa High, Hannah Newberry from Pepperell, Xharia
Ware from Rome High and Tristan Cox from Model.
Each of the students read two short essays, one explaining in part how they were able to overcome the obstacle(s) in their lives and the other detailing their hopes for the future.
Dean is a member of both the National Honor Society and Spanish Honor Society at Armuchee and was recognized as an AP Honor student.
“I have mild Asperger’s Syndrome as well as ADHD, which hampers my social skills and makes me more impulsive.” Dean said. Medication, speech and occupational therapy and what he called “serious guidance” helped him navigate his way to success as a student and young man.
Dean also told the Exchange Club that becoming a Christian was one of the best decisions he had ever made.
The young man, who will graduate in May, plans to do everything he can to improve the greater Armuchee community. He wants to bring more jobs to the community and attract a more diverse population base and plans to do that through his passion for animation and movie-making. “The world is very complex,” Dean said.
He said throughout modern history youth have shown they can make a difference in the community, and he intends to follow in the footsteps of predecessors from the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committees of the ’70s to the teenagers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who are advocating for change in gun control laws.
“To make the world a better place, we need to have faith in our youth,” Dean concluded.
Dean received $500 for winning the competition while the other five each received $100.