SAYBROOK, Ohio — When you're at "Friday Night Lights" at Ashtabula Lakeside High School, there's action everywhere: The crowd is cheering, the players are fired up for a win, and the marching band is gearing up for the big halftime performance.
But if you look under the band shelter, you won't miss 15-year-old Azain Powell-Carlton getting ready to take the field. He's a great cheerleader for his band members, and needs no help cheering on his team.
"Go!" Azain yelled during a recent football game. "It's Dragon marching band!"
"He has autism; he also is diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety disorder," Azain's mom, Renée Powell, told us. "He is considered non-verbal. He doesn't communicate very well. He has words and he uses phrases. Most of the time, he has to be prompted to talk."
Music, however, has always been his thing.
"Even as a baby, like, music would soothe him, you know? ... He would fall asleep to it. It would just calm him," Renée said. "So as far as with band, I see him out there, like, when they break from the song and they sing a part of the song, he's out there just singing his heart out."
He never has trouble keeping his bandmates on their toes.
"He has energy, unlimited energy," David P. Roth, director of instrumental music at Lakeside High School, stated. "Just constant, always on, which is great."
Beyond his enthusiasm and impeccable timekeeping, Azain is inspiring his peers to be the best version of themselves.
"I kind of look at him like my other brother, just because I feel like he trusts me a lot more than other ones, just because he knows me more and stuff," classmate Trinity Goudge said. "It just touches my heart when he will listen to me."
"He'll just be hitting his drum and you can just tell he's having so much fun, and it just makes all of us like have more fun with him," Alex Shevchik added.
"For so long, he'd just sit by himself or isolate himself," Renée admitted, "and to see him able to be with the band and sit and get along and have friends — and so many of them are so kind to him and they look out for him — I can't even tell you how proud he makes me."
Lakeside didn't make the playoffs this year, but Azain's mom says not to fret, as he'll be keeping up with music for years to come. We'll see you on the field next season, Azain!
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