It’s a common sight to see Powell High School senior Noah Kiser greeting other students in the hallways.

Kiser will often greet students by name, “dapping” them up and asking how they’re doing. Not much has changed now-a-days, but now upon Kiser greeting you, you might notice his new shoes, a Christmas present gifted to him by six PHS students.

“The brightest part of our day is when we see him in the hallway and he comes up to us and talks to us about his day and everything,” senior Jack Pool said. “So we wanted to do something special for him and we know he loves Jordans.”

Kiser, who has Down Syndrome, easily approaches and strikes up conversations with people. He’s affectionate and smiles a lot too.

His gentle personality and self-confidence make it easy for him to befriend others.

 “He’s always just been part of us and been around us,” senior Landon Sessions said. “So we thought we could all chip in and buy him some shoes.” 

“We” consisted of seniors Landon Sessions, Jack Pool, Mason Marchant, Jaden Marchant, Kobe Ostermiller and junior Zachery Ratcliff, all members of the PHS boys’ basketball team. They each chipped in about $20 each to purchase a pair of Air Jordans for Kiser, similar to the ones that some of the boys use while playing basketball.

“He loves Jays,” Ratcliff said. “He calls them ‘says’.”

The boys presented Kiser with the Christmas present after the students got back from winter break. 

“He was pretty excited,” Pool said. “He put them on and took them for a test run in the hallways, sprinting back and forth seeing how fast he could go.”

“He says they make him faster,” Ratcliff added.

“I was just happy that we could do something that could make him smile,” Pool said. “Seeing him be as happy as he was just made me happy.”

When asked how often he’s worn the shoes, Kiser said “all days.” True to his word, Kiser was wearing his shoes during the interview.

“I love the shoes,” Kiser added.