SANTA ANA – When Peter Jasso was a freshman, he only wanted to accomplish two things by the time he graduated high school: To attend the homecoming dance and to be crowned homecoming king.

This month, the autistic student’s dream came true when he was elected homecoming king by his peers at Segerstrom High School.

On Oct. 5, Jasso, 18, stood in the middle of the school stadium during halftime, waiting for the homecoming king’s name to be announced.

When he heard his name called, he apprehensively raised his hand, barely able to hear it above the deafening roar of the crowd.

“I felt shocked,” said Jasso, who was diagnosed with autism as a child. “I thought I must’ve heard them wrong. I didn’t know what to do, so I just raised my hand.”

With tears in her eyes and a lump in her throat, Jasso’s step-mother, Sylvia Jasso, looked on as he accepted the crown.

“When they were announcing that I won, my parents were shocked…for they never thought that I would actually win,” Peter Jasso said. “They never knew everybody there liked me.”

Jasso lives in Santa Ana with his father, step-mother, an older brother who is also autistic and a younger brother who is deaf.

His bid for king began weeks ago with the announcement of homecoming nominations. Several seniors who were nominated declined their bids and instead nominated Jasso in their place.

Initially, Jasso’s parents were hesitant about the nomination, fearing the students wanted to embarrass their special-needs son.

His parents called on Greg Marzilli, Jasso’s case manager at the school, to determine the intent of the student body.

After Marzilli and several teachers determined the students were sincere in their nomination, Jasso’s parents gave their permission for him to participate.

“When we found out that he had been nominated, we thought, ‘I don’t know,’ but something just touched my heart and said let him do this,” said Sylvia Jasso, 61.

With support from the football, basketball and soccer teams, Jasso’s campaign was in full swing.

When Jasso needed posters, his peers helped him create and distribute them. When Jasso needed an escort for the presentation before the student body, the captain of the cheerleading squad eagerly volunteered.

“It was a very unselfish act of love that they did that for him…it really touched my heart,” Sylvia Jasso said.

Basking in the glow of his recent crowning, Jasso says his experience has far-reaching effects.

“[Peter] said there’s hope for special needs kids now,” said Sylvia Jasso. “Those students are not normally elected for these kinds of things, it’s very uncommon, but now they see it as a possibility.”

Now that Peter has fulfilled his dream of being homecoming king, Sylvia Jasso said the family is working on helping the high school senior accomplish his next goal – going on to college.

“After he graduates, we’d like to see how he does at Santa Ana College,” she said. “He still doesn’t know what he wants to do yet, but that will come to him when it’s time.”