High school senior Jesse Guillen has come a long way since he first started taking special education classes at Hanford West.

His teacher, Lynn Brown, said as a ninth-grader he wouldn't socialize with anyone and would just sit and play alone with his Hot Wheels cars.

Since then, his self esteem has grown, and he has become more outgoing, Brown said.

Guillen, 18, even took a date to the prom this year.

"They were part of the prom, they danced, they had a ball - they didn't sit down," Brown said. "He's gained the respect of his whole school."

On Friday, Guillen added one more high school experience to his belt. He placed first in three track-and-field events at the Kings County Special Olympics. Guillen was one of 285 student athletes to participate at Hanford High's Neighbor Bowl.

The student athletes were from Shelly Baird School and satellite classes throughout the county, as well as special education classes at Meadow Lane Elementary, Engvall Elementary, and John C. Fremont School in Corcoran. Some of the students are homeschooled.

Races included a 25-meter walk, 25-meter motorized wheelchair event, 25-meter race, 50-meter run, 100-meter run, 4x100-meter relay, running long jump, standing long jump and softball throw.

Family members, teachers, students and volunteers sat on the home side of Hanford High stadium, cheering the athletes on. The athletes were quick to congratulate each other as well after each event, saying "good job," and high-fiving each other.

Nineteen-year-old homeschooled student Nicki Hornbaker and her brother, Andy, attended the event with their parents. Both she and her brother have gone on to participate in the state Special Olympics Summer Games the last two years.

Nicki Hornbaker, who won a third-place medal in the 50-meter run, said her favorite event was the softball throw. She said she enjoys the event because of "the whole atmosphere of running and being competitive."

Additional activities were available to the students at Olympic Town, an area for the students who were too young or weren't physically able to compete in the track and field events. Olympic Town offered such things as a basketball toss, lawn bowling, golf, bean bag tosses, bubble blowing and crafts.

"They love it. They have the greatest time," Brown said. "They love the whole atmosphere. Who doesn't like to be cheered on? It's great for their self esteem."

More than 350 volunteers from the community came out to help with the event.

The majority of the volunteers - around 300 -were sailors and Marines from the Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training Unit, a school at Lemoore Naval Air Station.

The military personnel helped set up the field prior to the event and provided personnel to accompany the student athletes throughout the events so the parents could relax and watch from the bleachers.

Navy Aviation Electronics Technician First Class Jason Edwards was responsible for organizing the military personnel for the event.

"I enjoy getting our students out here so they can see what it does for the athletes," Edwards said.

The reporter can be reached at 582-0471, ext. 3052

(May 5, 2007)