Elkhart boy becomes big star in the big apple after being shown on Times Square jumbotron

ELKHART, Ind. -- A young boy from Elkhart was a star in the big apple over the weekend.

Bennie Szabo just turned six and has down syndrome but that surprise diagnosis at birth is being used to bring awareness all the way to the billboards in New York City.

Classmates and teachers cheering on Bennie Szabo as he prepared for his big debut on a Times Square billboard.

"I could get choked up. That was incredible for my little guy from Indiana to be chosen out of all those people to be included, and just to help bring awareness," said Casey Szabo, Bennie's mom.

Awareness to our neighbors with down syndrome. For Casey, the down syndrome diagnoses came at the last minute.

"I didn't know until he was born that it was down syndrome."

Does this diagnosis make day to day look a little different for Casey? Sure. However, it's not stopping Bennie's dreams.

"I saw on Facebook that we could submit a picture of kids with down syndrome, and then they're chosen to be up on the on the jumbotron in Times Square, and so he was chosen out of 1000s," explained Casey.

But who needs a red carpet when you have the red stairs in the heart of New York City? That's where they watched. The biggest names have walked these steps from Alicia Keys to Jay-Z and now, Bennie Szabo.

"He's meant to break barriers."

The main event of the weekend was the Buddy Walk with the National Down Syndrome Society to raise awareness. The most important thing Casey wants to bring awareness to is individuality.

"It's so important that people see him as Bennie and not down syndrome. We have struggled a little bit even in the medical community of like, oh, this is part of down syndrome, but he's his own person and he has his own little personality for sure, and he's making it known," said Casey.

Bennie has a few surgeries coming up but in the meantime he plans to continue playing baseball and starting up dance classes this fall.