The vibrant life of Zach Warriner

Teen stays active despite Down syndrome

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He plays trumpet, shoots baskets, paints in acrylics, loves to swim and bowl and wins medals in track and field.

But Zach Warriner isn't the typical Cheyenne High School 10th-grader. He has Down syndrome.

Even if that limits the teen's ability to express himself verbally, it doesn't begin to dim his vivid spirit and personality.

During a recent afternoon at his home, Zach and his mom, Cathy, made it clear that his handicap has not kept him from enjoying a full life.

Later that evening, Zach addressed those gathered at the annual Special Olympics Spirit of the Season fundraiser at Texas Station.

His family, which hails from Utah, moved to the Las Vegas Valley a couple of years ago, and Zach said he was disappointed at first.

"I am 15 years old, and I love Special Olympics," he told the gathering. "I started doing Special Olympics when I was 10 years old. I did track. It was really fun but really hard. I won two medals and lots of ribbons. We moved and I didn't get to do Special Olympics. I missed it very much. Now I live in Las Vegas and get to do Special Olympics again."

"Without your help," he continued, "we wouldn't get to do Special Olympics and that would be sad."

The attendees apparently agreed about the worth of the program -- they awarded Zach a standing ovation at the end of his talk, and organizers announced later that $85,000 was raised through ticket sales and an auction.

Zach helped with the latter event, contributing a large, vibrantly colored canvas titled "My Rainbow is Music II." The original "My Rainbow is Music" brightens his bedroom at home.

Zach is the youngest of the family's six children, and he surely must be one of the most active. In warm weather, he'll be in the small pool behind the house. In less pleasant weather, he walks to the nearby basketball court and shoots hoops.

As much as Special Olympics is an important theme in the youngster's life, his mother explained that just getting to some of the venues for practice can be a haul. The pool is in Henderson, but there are efforts to make matters more convenient.

"Special Olympics is negotiating with a couple of different places," she said.

The Clark County School District's Unified School District Program has enabled Zach and many others like him to enjoy all manner of recreation, and Zach loves bowling in particular.

"He's a good bowler," Cathy Warriner said. "He beats out the whole family when we go."

At home, Zach picked up his trumpet and abruptly played a fervent version of "Oh Come All Ye Faithful."

"I like 'Jingle Bells,' " Zach said. "I like 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,' too. I play 'God Bless America.' "

"This is all by ear," his mother explained. "His dad and I have no music ability, so where he got that, we have no idea."

At a school Christmas concert, Zach was given the mouthpiece of a recorder so that he could sit in. He was placed behind the trumpet section and just watched. What exactly happened is not known, but apparently he was able to see the precise connection between the musicians' finger positions and the notes he heard. When the family bought him a trumpet, he simply started playing. One evening, a friend came over with a trombone and played "Taps," Cathy Warriner recalled. In the morning, Zach picked up his trumpet and played the haunting military piece note for note.

While his mom chatted about his enjoyment of the Special Olympics, Zach busied himself with a Fisher-Price Doodle Pro and drew a picture of a reporter.

Cathy Warriner said students at Cheyenne High School get along well with her son, often joining him in song.

"They really do a lot with him," she said, "and they're really good with him."

"You have lots of friends," Cathy Warriner said to Zach.

"Josh is my friend," he replied. "My best friend Josh went home Thursday. My best buddy went home."

Zach also is active in Boy Scouts and accompanies his troop on camping trips to the Mount Charleston area. He also enjoys early morning seminary at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. His dad, Tom, works as financial controller for a string of the church's secondhand stores.

In high school, Zach is taking special education classes, regular band and madrigals.

Despite all his friends and activities, without Special Olympics there would exist a real vacancy in Zach's life.

"It is so neat to see how the people love these kids," Cathy Warriner said, "the people who volunteer. It's just a very good support group." For children who live with limitations like Zach's, she added, "Special Olympics is a light in their life."

Zach carefully wrote out, "I love to stomp our feet and clap our hands." In fact, his favorite song goes, "When you're happy and you know it, clap your hands." Zach has it down by heart.

He also loves books celebrating Clifford the Big Red Dog. "His dad named our new car Clifford," Cathy Warriner said, laughing.

Zach has begun learning Spanish in an innovative way. He doesn't use a textbook or sit through a class. "He's learning Spanish by watching PBS Kids," his mother said. "He puts it on Spanish. He knows quite a few words now."

Cathy Warriner admitted that discovering Zach had Down syndrome came as a shock, but she also felt an immediate sense of gratification.

"He had a such a great spirit about him," she remembered. "Every time he was with me in the hospital, he brought me so much peace and calm. He just has a special quality. He just has that special quality of making people feel peaceful."

In many ways, Zach and his peers are no different from their classmates. "They're just like everybody else," his mom said. "They want to be successful. They want to be important. When I ask Zach what his favorite thing is, he says, 'When people clap for me.' "

For himself, Zach told the fundraiser guests, "Special Olympics makes me feel good about myself. It has helped me be good at sports. I have learned to do things that I didn't think I could do.

"I have made new friends, and that makes me feel important and happy. I have learned that lots of people love me at Special Olympics, and I love them, too. I am thankful for everything that you do for me and my friend."

At the end of his speech at Texas Station, with the applause rising around him, Zach fully enjoyed his favorite thing.