Thirteen-year-old Thomas Lorenzetti has a good reason to feel proud of himself. Thomas has been in special education his entire life since he is autistic.
A student at the Illinois School in Park Forest, Thomas graduated from 8th grade second in his class. At the ceremony on May 26, Thomas recited the pledge of allegiance.
"I'm very proud of him...he's a good kid he worked hard. He likes to be perfect and he's getting there," said Sue Lorenzetti, Thomas' mom.
"He is autistic but he is one that I feel has just broken the barriers of what the normal autistic child would have to over come," said Judy Cvack, Thomas' home room teacher.
On his own, Thomas created a video which he wrote. He narrated it over his own pictures, then video taped it and edited it. Sped-up for TV, the video won first place in a school wide contest.
"I love making movies because I feel happy to make movies by animations…and I did it by myself," said Thomas.
"He's a well-rounded person, more importantly than performing well academically he participated in the choir, he sang in the inspirational choir. He was in all of the activities here at the school," said Carolyn Palmer, Principal of the Illinois School.
"We hope that other people that have children with ...similar disabilities that they can learn from what Tommy's done they can see different thing there's not a bleak future there is a positive out look ahead," said Carlo Lorenzetti, Thomas' dad.
And what does Thomas want to do when he grows up?
"I want to be a filmmaker," said Thomas.
