After experiencing pure excitement and happy tears, local viewers of game two of the World Series agree that Sequim’s Pearle Peterson hit a home run singing the national anthem.
“I got goosebumps while watching,” said 13-year-old Daniel Alokoa, who — along with millions of fans watching on television — was one of about 30 people to watch Peterson’s performance on Oct. 28 from the Sequim Boys & Girls Club, where Peterson has been a member for 11 years.
The 18-year-old Peterson was selected to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and represent the Boys & Girls Clubs of America just prior to the World Series game in Arlington, Texas between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers.
Listen to her performance here.
Peterson said in an Oct. 30 interview she was happy she was able to set her nerves aside for the performance.
“Honestly, it was the only performance I’ve done where I wasn’t nervous,” she said.
“I was so supported by Major League Baseball, the Boys & Girls Club and my friends and family, and that made it all so fulfilling.
“I was really able to be present in the moment and focus on the music; it’s my passion. I’m tremendously grateful that I was able to experience that.”
Staff with the Sequim club organized a viewing party that included signs and a cake.
Mary Budke, executive director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula, said she’s not a crier, but when Pearle sings, she makes her cry.
“She’s so brave,” Budke said. “I’m so proud of her. We can’t wait to see where she goes.”
As for her performance, Budke said Peterson always presents herself as authentic, “whether you see her on national TV, in the Boys & Girls club or wherever she goes.”
Peterson said she was singing the national anthem to herself every free moment she had, and sang it two full times for sound check.
Thirteen-year-old Alex Alokoa said it was “mind-blowing” to see his friend on the screen.
“She’s really funny, smart and kind to everyone,” he said. “She’s an amazing friend and like family to me.
“It’s a big deal for the Boys & Girls Club to have someone from here sing the national anthem.”
Nevaeh Piceno, 13, said she’s heard Peterson sing a few times and when Peterson found out she’d be singing at the national anthem she told the Sequim Teen Club all about it.
“I’m so happy for her,” Piceno said.
The response online and in person has been incredible, Peterson said, with people interested in her singing at events as far away as Ireland.
While pulling into Sequim on Sunday night, a fire truck and two ambulances started to escort her family through the city.
“I was totally confused,” Peterson said before she saw family and friends with signs cheering at the corner of Sequim Avenue and Washington Street.
Sequim Gazette photoS by Matthew Nash About 30 people gathered inside the Sequim Boys & Girls Club to watch Pearle Peterson sing during the World Series on Oct. 28.
Opportunity
Peterson learned she’d be singing at the World Series on Oct. 17 via Zoom from Boys & Girls Clubs of America CEO and President Jim Clark.
She was joined in her journey to Texas by her parents Jason and Kelsie, and 14-year-old sister Victoria. Neighbors sent them off with hugs and signs before they left Sequim, too.
“It’s a huge opportunity coming from a small town like Sequim and go to this big event,” Peterson said, prior to leaving for Texas.
“I’m so excited to be there as a club kid and as a kid of the Sequim community.”
When she moved to Sequim, the club provided her a place to go after school, dependable meals and homework help along with friends and programming, she said.
It’s also helped having friends go through similar struggles, and mentors and confidants at the club who helped her “grow up in an environment where I could be authentic,” she said in a previous interview.
The path to sing on the national stage opened last year when Peterson sang at the Olympic Peninsula clubs’ annual auction. She was encouraged to submit audition videos to become a National Youth Talent Performer and she was chosen in January. In May she performed in Orlando, Fla., at the Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s 117th National Conference and was voted by her peers to receive the Aryana Pizarro “Fly Right” Award, the first National Youth Talent Ambassador who died in a car accident.
As a National Youth Talent Performer, she sang this summer in Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, Lake Tahoe, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and New York.
Boys & Girls Clubs of America executives heard her sing a few times, which led her to sing at the World Series.
Staff with the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula celebrated Pearle Peterson singing at the World Series with pizza and cake during a viewing party.
Work ethic and effort
Budke said Peterson encompasses three core traits, “a hard work ethic, natural ability, and a fire in the belly.”
Overall, Peterson said the journey to the World Series has been inspiring.
She credits the Boys & Girls Club for helping her, and also feels her hard work led to what’s happened in recent months.
“I wanted it so bad,” she said.
“I’m so happy to be that example to other kids from small towns who want to get into the music industry. I’m fulfilling what my younger self always wanted to do.”
She loves Sequim, Peterson said, and feels children need more musical opportunity here.
“Making it to the World Series was a testament that if you want to work hard and want it as badly as I wanted it, you’ll get there,” she said.
Peterson plans to pursue a performing arts degree post-high school and has two colleges picked out.
She is now the three-time Olympic Region Youth of the Year and will run for state honors in the coming year.
Peterson got her first job in Sequim at the club helping with the Summer Food Program in Carrie Blake Community Park. She also served as the Sequim city council student liaison, and works part-time at Sherwood Assisted Living as the weekend activity coordinator.
She’ll perform next at the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula Auction and Dinner on Saturday, Nov. 11 in the Sequim club.
For more about the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula, visit bgc-op.org.
Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos Pearle Peterson of Sequim sings “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the World Series on Oct. 28 in Arlington, Texas. Peterson said she was “fulfilling what my younger self always wanted to do” on the national stage.
