Piedmont Man's Photo To Be Displayed At Times Square

Twenty-year-old Conner Phillips has Down syndrome, but that has never deterred him from doing the things he loves. Now he’s set to introduce himself to the entire world.

“Playing golf for eight years,” said Conner.

When he’s not making putts, he’s hitting the water at Lake Texoma.

“Catch striper at Texoma,” said Conner.

And if the striper aren’t biting and golf balls aren’t falling?

“He likes to ride the tube, he does knee boarding, so he’s very avid when it comes to the outdoors,” said Chris Phillips, Conner’s dad.

Conner even has his driver's permit, which is very uncommon for people with Down syndrome.

“I said ‘Conner, do you want to do that?’ He said ‘yeah, I want to do it,’ So, we pursued it,” said Phillips.

The Buddy Walk in Nork York City is a huge event for bringing awareness to Down syndrome.

“They always ask for entries, because they are going to put them on the jumbotron there in Times Square,” said Phillips.

Conner’s mother Lori submitted his prom picture, but with over 2,400 entries, the chance of getting selected wasn’t very good.

But to their surprise, he was selected.

“Oh, it was a party. It was party central around here,” said Phillips.

Conner’s prom photo was selected as one of the photos for the one-hour video presentation to be played in the heart of Times Square.

“I’m so happy to be in New York’s Times Square,” said Conner.

So as the family anxiously awaits the September 9th date, Conner does what relaxes him, coloring with his markers. He was working on a special project just for me.

“News 9, something good,” said Conner.

The Times Square video will be live streamed on the National Down Syndrome Society’s Facebook page, September 9th from 8:30 am to 9:30 am. You can watch the video here, @NDSS, on Facebook.