Nick Hansen, a determined athlete with Down syndrome, stepped onto the platform, glanced back to exchange a quick grin with his father, Rob Hansen, then gripped the bar with both hands and ducked under the weight. With a deep exhale, Hansen crouched low and drove upward, successfully squatting 205 pounds at the Special Olympics Colorado 2025 Summer Games — a state record for the junior lightweight division.
A few weeks later, Nick Hansen achieved another milestone — in a setting far from the squat rack. On June 29, he received the Melchizedek Priesthood and was ordained an elder in the Crystal Valley Ward, Castle Rock Colorado Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
These achievements are a few among many for Hansen. The 21-year-old holds a black belt in taekwondo and is preparing to begin his first year of college at Regis University in Denver, Colorado, where he will live in the dorms and attend classes on campus.
Rob Hansen described his son as a typical young man who hangs out with friends, plays video games, spends time with his girlfriend and bonds with his nephews. His mother, Babette Hansen, said Nick is determined to pursue his goals, no matter the obstacles. “He has great self-worth,” she said. “He doesn’t recognize his disability. He doesn’t embrace it. It doesn’t define him.”
From class to competition
Nick Hansen’s interest in powerlifting piqued during his freshman year of high school, when he took weight training as an elective. As the class was offered only every other day, Hansen’s disposition each morning hinged on whether he had weight training.
“He immediately took to it and was excited about it,” Rob Hansen said. “That was his favorite class.”
Nick Hansen’s coach, Jeremy Dorr — who was part of a program that Special Olympics sponsors in local schools — invited him to try powerlifting. After exploring several options and considering their son’s needs, Rob and Babette Hansen decided to have him train with Dorr in Denver.
Rob Hansen explained that his son, like any other kid, initially didn’t understand something so new. As a young athlete who was just starting powerlifting, there was much to learn — from developing proper lifting form to applying safe lifting techniques to prevent injuries.
For Hansen, learning how to powerlift was much like learning taekwondo — unique and challenging. Although difficulties arose throughout the learning process, consistent practice led to familiarity, and taekwondo became “second nature” for him, Rob Hansen said.
“If you don’t have strength to do it, you have to do it anyway. Just push as hard as you can,” Hansen said
Inspired by example
As their son neared his eighth birthday, Rob and Babette Hansen turned to the Church’s handbook for guidance. After thoughtful prayers and discussions surrounding the complexities of their son’s baptism, they didn’t feel a strong urgency to invite him to be baptized.
Like they had with their other children, the Hansens took their son to his classmate’s baptisms and talked with him about the ordinance, but he didn’t show interest in being baptized himself.
A year later, that changed. Hansen began expressing a desire to be baptized, and at age 9 he was.
Receiving that ordinance, and seeing friends and family who also participated in ordinances, became a catalyst for Hansen. Watching his brother pass the sacrament on Sundays and seeing his siblings leave for missions helped deepen his understanding of the gospel, augmenting his desire to continue on his own spiritual path.
“He wanted to serve, he wanted to help give blessings, he wanted to be like his brother and his brother-in-law and his dad in participating in those blessings and helping people who were sick,” Rob Hansen said.
In preparation to receive the priesthood, Hansen was given a form by his bishop that included scriptures and questions to answer about the priesthood. With his son having a comprehension level similar to that of a first- or second-grader, Rob Hansen found creative ways to help Nick understand.
Rob Hansen noted that one of the questions read, “What does it mean to magnify the priesthood and your calling?” Thinking of an analogy his son could grasp, he referred to the glasses Nick wears to help him read. “What do the glasses do to the words?” he asked.
“They make them a little bit bigger and more clear,” Nick Hansen responded.
“That’s exactly what magnifying your calling does,” Rob Hansen explained, “It helps people see things better and more clearly as you serve them and as you teach them.”
The day after competing in the Special Olympics, he was presented in stake priesthood meeting to receive the priesthood.
Three weeks later, Hansen was ordained an elder in Eden, Utah.
Ordained to serve
While boating in Utah this summer, Nick Hansen and his father were tubing together when Rob Hansen took a hard jolt and injured his back. Nick Hansen exercised his priesthood power and administered his first blessing to his father.
“It was pretty impressive,” Babette Hansen recalled. “My husband helped him say the words, and then Nick was able to just leave a very heartfelt, sincere prayer on behalf of his dad.”
Courtney Hansen, Nick’s older sister, emphasized his ability to champion godly love for others through the priesthood, sharing that he counsels with his father often about what it means.
“He takes it very seriously — it’s very special to him,” she said.
Hansen shared what the priesthood meant to him and the personal relationship he feels with God: “He trusted me to have the Melchizedek Priesthood, and He wants me to have a happy life.”
