Features Persistance
Mr. HHS disproves stereotypes Senior Blake Kellinger is the first Mr.HHS with sensory disorder
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By Ashley Reilly
As the stage lights illuminated his face, beads of sweat dripped across his brow. It was time for the talent portion of the Mr.HHS competition. He had prepared an interactive comedy bit that included a self-made video. The crowd went wild, reacting to every joke and even collectively “awh”ing during the dramatic part. Everyone in the room had their eyes on the stage. On Feb. 6, the Performing Arts Center at Huntley High School was filled with family and friends attending the Mr.HHS pageant. Almost everyone in the room had the same experience, a night full of laughter and entertainment, but for senior Blake Kellinger, the night will be remembered forever. “It was so cool. The audience at Mr.HHS was fantastic,” Kellinger said. “When they interacted with my talent I felt proud, I’m so happy that people got into it because it shows who I am.” Kellinger went home that night with a new title, Mr.HHS 2020. The win, for anyone, is a big accomplishment but for Kellinger the win meant much more. Since the day he was born, Kellinger has fought a sensory processing disorder where he suffers from attacks due to sensory overload. Since Blake was three weeks old his mother, Cory Kellinger, and father, Jason Kellinger, knew their child was
struggling. As an infant Blake had trouble sleeping, later they would find out this was due to Blakes disorder but at the moment all they knew was something wasn’t right. Their little boy was social, quietly curious, and unique. Cory recalls one story as one of Blake’s more defining moments. When he was a child, he was a rule follower. If you told him to stop, he did, but he also wanted to know why. “You would tell him don’t crawl through the window, and he would go ‘ok,’” Cory said. “Months would
on happy times. This adorable, and seemingly normal little boy, was fighting a battle not many knew about. When Blake was around 14 months old he suddenly stopped speaking. “He was diagnosed with Autism, and then we had him re-diagnosed because the main characteristic of Autism is a lack of social skills,” Cory said. “Clearly, he doesn’t have any social issues, it was just the processing piece of it.” Knowing that the diagnosis was incorrect, they kept searching for the right answers. Blake was brought to a doctor that was leading research in sensory disorders, it was then that “When they interacted he was correctly with my talent I felt proud, diagnosed. Every day our I’m so happy that peobrains intake and ple got into it because it process what we see, smell, feel, shows who I am.” hear, and taste. The majority of us are born knowing how to do this, but with Blake’s condition his brain did not know how go by and he would see something to process any of these. that would interest him and he “I can get overwhelmed sometimes wouldn’t ask me why can’t he do it, a little faster than others. I get really he would just do it. But he didn’t do stressed out, my mind’s rushing and I it out of defiance, but out of curiosfeel a massive amount of guilt,” Blake ity.” said. “I remember as a little kid it was Like all parents, Cory and Jason really bad, talking was tough. I’m an have thousands of memories of their outgoing guy, even when I was little, blue-eyed little boy, from little laughs but it was hard to fit in. People made to big stories they can always reflect fun of me, I was definitely bullied for
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30 THE VOICE March 2020
Blake Kellinger
