AHS grad Luke Hogan Laurenson shares life lessons with Walker Elementary students
By Holly Dillemuth, Ashland.news
For just a few minutes on a Wednesday morning in late March, it was like old times for Ashland High School graduate Luke Hogan Laurenson.
Young and old were “shakin’ it off” to the song “Shake It off” by Taylor Swift in the Walker Elementary School gymnasium with Luke as they have at many school events when Luke was at Ashland High School. The now 19-year-old, who has quadriplegic cerebral palsy and dysarthria, a speech disability, danced about the gymnasium at Walker Elementary on March 21 with his mom in tow, during a special assembly commemorating Disability Awareness Month.
Quadriplegic cerebral palsy is a neurological disorder that affects his body movement and muscle tone. While he participated as a “Sparrow” at Ashland High School, students helped him and his mom raise money toward the purchase of a wheeled chair accessible van to help ease travel.
According to the Sparrow Clubs USA’s website, a Sparrow is a child up to 17 years old with a life-threatening or life-affecting illness or condition who is adopted by a participating school in a friendship way and completes 300 hours of community service to unlock sponsored funds for their Sparrow family.
Luke’s disability hasn’t stood in Luke’s way of achieving his dreams: Meeting Taylor Swift, dancing, walking, earning a 4.0 GPA — and now, becoming a public speaker and taking on the road his message: hope and kindness in spite of adversity.
The 2023 AHS grad has been staying quite busy since turning his tassel last June.
Luke and his mom, Jane, are now sharing his story with elementary students and want to empower kids to pursue their own dreams.
“We would love to hear some of your dreams … because we think sharing some of your dreams aloud helps give them more power,” Jane told kindergarten through fifth grade students at the assembly.
Jane shared how important it is to be inclusive with individuals with disabilities and to take extra time to be kind.
So far, the mother and son have spoken at Walker, Helman and Bellview schools in Ashland, in addition to an assembly at West Sedona Elementary in Sedona, Arizona, in early March while traveling to see Grand Canyon National Park.
“My dream was to get Luke to Sedona and to see the Grand Canyon,” Hogan told Ashland.news while she walked the Walker Elementary halls with Luke.
She reached out to schools in that area and the principal at a K-5 school in Sedona had experience teaching special education and responded to her inquiry.
“She said, ‘we’ll bring you here,’” Hogan said. “She had a soft spot for this situation, and loved the story, so we went there and did the assembly.”
Luke and his mom are now paid speakers, traveling with a personal assistant to help them on the road. They are planning another local visit on May 15 at Willow Wind in Ashland and Ashland Middle School this fall.
“We’re just getting started,” Hogan said of their tour. “We’re figuring out what we want to do.”
They also plan to travel to St. Louis later this year to visit Luke’s sister, Julia, in a trip that Luke hopes includes a visit to Nashville.
Quiz time
Students had a chance to get to know Luke and his mom during question-and-answer sessions at the assembly as well as a special Q-and-A for fifth-grade students after lunch.
“Do you like rollercoasters?” one student asked Luke, following his presentation.
“He loves roller coasters, he’s a daredevil,” Jane responded.
During a Q-and-A with Beth Van Zee’s students, Luke’s mom Jane Hogan thanked her for caring for their family. Van Zee was Luke’s first case manager at Bellview Elementary.
“When you have a child with disabilities, you have to have a case manager who handles all your work at the school,” Jane said. “She always made us feel heard and really went to bat for us as a family for what we needed for Luke.”
“Luke says he loves you,” Jane told Van Zee.
Jane had the fifth-grade students come up and gather around Luke to see the mechanical chair he drives.
Luke used his “TalkBuddy” computer to share a message with the class and with Van Zee.
“She was amazing at helping me be included in all the regular classes at Bellview when I was your age,” Luke told the students using his “TalkBuddy.”
Questions rolled in for Luke from students, many about Taylor Swift.
One student asked, what the hardest part of having cerebral palsy?
He responded that the hardest part is “his body is really tight.”
Hogan said Luke is a good sport about it, though, and perseveres.
“What’s your dream?” one boy asked him.
“I want to work for Taylor Swift,” Luke said.
His mom added that he wants to work on one of her tours.
The mother and son duo saw Swift perform in 2023 in Santa Clara, California, during her Eras tour.
“We’re coming up with a strategy, so we’ll see,” Hogan said, optimistically.
Reach Ashland.news reporter Holly Dillemuth at hollyd@ashland.news.
April 7: Updated to remove a reference to the release of Taylor Swift’s next album, which is scheduled for April 19, not Oct. 21.
Related articles:
‘Long live’ Luke: Inspiring others, living his dream June 11, 2023
Ashland High serves 1,500 hours of community service for ‘Sparrow Luke,’ unlocks funds to help buy wheelchair van June 20, 2023
Ashland High School students rally around ‘Sparrow’ classmate in new YouTube video Dec. 22, 2022
