Hello everyone, this is a tribute to my brother Francisco. I wanna congratulate him on going to college, but I also want to thank him for everything he has done for me. Francisco has been a diligent, and inspiring person. He worked for what he has achieved, and inspires others. I am a person inspired by him. I see him as things beyond a brother. I see him as a coach, mentor, and best friend.
Francisco wasn’t always close to me, growing up I never recognized him as much as I do now, due to me being very young. When the pandemic struck we built a bond. It was a time where I couldn’t communicate with my friends, so I had nobody to talk to. Francisco was the only person I could relate to at the time, and he felt like a true friend, that was when our stance as brothers improved. This bond wasn’t strong, but it grew with time. My brother was 16 at the time, and started working, with this I saw him be more open to talking to people. In my 7th grade my brother would pick me up from school everyday, and talk more with me. I could never thank him more for that.
Francisco is a coach to me, because he convinced me to play soccer competitively. He is still playing, and gave me cleats to start off. I felt grateful for him, because when we were growing up, our family couldn’t support my brother’s dream, and he had to endure hard conditions to practice. He takes me training, and passes on his lessons to me. This is an opportunity I am grateful for, and thank him for it. One of the things I am glad he gave me was his soccer number. My brother still plays the sport, but I feel like I should use his number, since I’m learning how to play like him.
Francisco is a mentor to me, due to him inspiring me to try new things. In the start of 8th grade my brother advised me to apply for DMSF, I listened and never regretted it since. The biggest piece of advice I took was to pick soccer as a passion. My brother one day told me to go to the park with him. I followed along, and we played a scrimmage with other people there. It was an exhilarating experience, and made me want to play the sport. I picked up the sport, but not competitively, until my brother suggested I join a team with my friends. I still play to this day, and my brother watches my games, and provides advice during the games.
Francisco is my best friend, he always accompanies me, and we have a fun time every week. We socialize often, and relate to each other with jokes, trends, or random TikTok videos we send each other. When I’m not talking to my friends, I would be talking with my brother. We would socialize every summer. This started when he graduated 8th grade, we got our first console at that time. I remember staying up and playing Fortnite, and FIFA 18 all night.
I wanna end this off by thanking Francisco, for preparing me for highschool. I also want to thank you guys for being here for me, and him. I learned from him, the best friends to make, how to be involved within sports, and how to be charismatic. No matter how far we are in distance, there’s one thing we will carry together, the jersey number 23. Good luck at WashU Pancho!
Alexander Quinones – Latin School of Chicago – DMSF Class of 2027