Jennifer Ancelin remembers having the conversation with her two young daughters following the birth of their baby brother.

She told them the bustling bundle of joy was born with Down syndrome, explained what the condition meant, and prepared for their questions.

“Both asked, ‘Is he going to have any friends?’ Ancelin recalled Audrey, 8, and Ava, 4, asking simultaneously.

Arik, now 15, has never had to worry about having friends, especially with supportive parents making sure his life is as normal as possible, and two sisters who adore him.

He’s in the eighth grade at the LaVilla School of the Arts in Jacksonville, studying dance, following in the talented steps of his two sisters. Audrey, now attending college in Jacksonville, is a former professional dancer with the Charleston Ballet.

Arik is particularly close to Ava. He liked to sit in the front row for her high-school dance performances. Ava, now a sophomore psychology major at Florida State University, returned home this spring, bringing along some of her Alpha Delta Pi sorority sisters, to be there when Arik earned his second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

But it is what he experienced while visiting Ava last weekend in Tallahassee that still makes him light up.

After spending a good part of Saturday at a sorority event at the FSU intramural fields, the two visited Ava’s friends at the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house.

The brothers immediately took to Arik, playing basketball, showing him around the house and bonding.

What happened next still wows him.

Chapter President Derek Stanley and secretary Heath Theodore surprised him with a bid card to become an honorary member of Phi Delta Theta.

“It made me feel surprised and very happy. I felt loved,” Arik said with enthusiasm Thursday. “They learned more about me and they involved me in their brotherhood. I was just shocked. The young men gave me the best time ever.”

Ava, obviously was moved, as well.

“He said ‘yes;’ he had tears of joy,” she said. “It was by far, the best night of his life. That moment is going to stick with him and give him confidence that people do love him.”

Ava posted a heartfelt message on Facebook, thanking the fraternity brothers for “an extraordinary act of kindness.”

“Living a life full of challenges and discrimination that simply one cannot understand, even the slightest acts of kindness are huge for him, but something like this is incomparable,” she wrote.

“Arik will now always feel confident and welcomed knowing he is a brother of Phi Delta Theta and that is something I am eternally grateful for.”

Ava’s post had generated 13,000 clicks by Thursday evening, with nearly 5,800 shares.

“I’ve never seen anything go viral,” said Jennifer Ancelin, overwhelmed by responses the social media posts generated throughout the country.

“All the guys loved him and he loved them,” Stanley said. “The joy on his face was like no other. It gave me goosebumps going down my spine. The smallest things can make the biggest difference.”

“They gave him some Phi Delt shirts to wear back at home and he literally won’t take it off,” Ava said.

For Arik, being accepted for being himself capped off a fun-filled weekend, meeting a world of new friends, through a sister who once wondered if that would be possible.

Although he’d visited Ava before with his parents, it was his first time alone with her in Tallahassee.

Ava kicked things off Friday night, taking him to the fun-filled “Jam with Ham” event on campus, where he got to meet members of the Seminoles basketball team. Point guard Braian Angola-Rodas gave him a shirt.

The next day, the two headed to the intramural fields where Ava’s sorority, Alpha Delta Pi, was hosting a philanthropic event “Homers & Hogs.” benefiting the Ronald McDonald House.

It included a homerun derby batting contest. Arik was chosen to be on Phi Delta Theta’s team. He nailed a few homers.

He also was named Alpha Delta Pi’s “teen” Diamond honor, usually given to a man chosen to represent the sorority for a year.

Jennifer Ancelin said the whirlwind weekend at FSU exemplifies the bond between brother and sister.

“They are siblings through and through,” she said. “Ava and Arik are like, ‘let’s live; let’s have fun,’ “ she said. ”Ava is the first person to take him anywhere to have fun.”

It’s always been that way.

For “favorite things in life” in her high-school yearbook, she chose a picture of Arik, along with McDonald’s French fries.

Down syndrome is a condition in which a person has an extra chromosome, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Approximately one in every 700 babies in the United States is born with Down syndrome.

Arik, Jennifer Ancelin said, understands his condition but counters it by putting everything he has in to life. Ava says he loves to perform and wants to be “the next Justin Bieber.”

“He absolutely knows he has Down syndrome,” his mother said, offering that Arik chose the subject for his seventh-grade science project.

“He’d be the first to say. ‘I have Down syndrome,’ “ she said. “He’s even said to me, ‘how do I get rid of this extra chromosome?'“

Ava said she admires her brother’s courage.

“Having a sibling with Down syndrome has taught me so many things,” she said. “He has taught me personally to have a positive outlook on life; to look at the best in everything and everyone.”

Contact senior writer Byron Dobson at bdobson@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @byrondobson.