Photo/submitted
Region – Nicholas Carvehlo of Shrewsbury, a junior in the Electrical Wiring program at Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School in Marlborough, recently challenged his fellow classmates to put their skills to good work. He asked his high school to use their resources to assist him in his partnership with Team Hoyt.
Team Hoyt was started by Dick Hoyt, who, with his son, Rick, who has cerebral palsy, compete together in marathons and triathlons across the country. Dick provides the physical strength, while Rick is the motivating presence.
Nick began volunteering with Team Hoyt when he was just 11 years old. He and his mother decided to visit a Team Hoyt event to see if this was something Nick would be interested in doing. He was and as such, has been running 5k and 10K races for Team Hoyt for the past five years. He has had the privilege of being a part of two teams.
Currently, Nick is part of a duo team with a young 21-year-old woman named K.K. She was born prematurely weighing only 1lb 8oz and was on life support in the NICU for the first four months of her life. She has mild cerebral palsy, a seizure disorder and is blind. Nick shared despite these challenges, “There is no better feeling than seeing K.K. cheering and clapping as I run with her.”
In the fall of 2019, Nick asked K.K’s parents if Nick and K.K. could be an official duo team. They were thrilled with Nick’s request and said yes. A family had donated a chair to Team Hoyt for another duo to use after their child had passed away. Nick was thrilled to receive this gift and right away approached Assabet instructors on how the chair could be customized for his team named “Fast & Curious.”
A trio of Assabet’s technical programs agreed to customize the chair for Nick and K.K.
“He is a wonderful student and very modest,” said Nick’s Electrical Wiring Instructor, Al Maino.
Assabet’s Automotive Collision program will disassemble and reassemble the bike in order to customize it with blue and gold paint colors. The Design and Visual Communications program will design a logo for the side of the chair, footplate and the bottom bar. Finally, the Metal Fabrication program will add the final touch by creating a whole new footplate for K.K. using a plasma cutter.
Nick hopes to run the Boston Marathon one day with K.K. and their new custom bike but in order to run and qualify for this event, he needs to wait until he is 18.
“I plan to start training for a half marathon to prepare myself for a full marathon,” explained Nick.
In the meantime, Nick and K.K are preparing for their next 5K together.
