A young life lost. Horizon High School mourns death of Miguel Romero at memorial

Miguel Angel Romero was a young man with so much promise. Friendly. Kind. Intelligent.

Romero was mourned in a tear-filled celebration of life ceremony attended by family, friends, classmates and teachers on Tuesday afternoon inside a gym at Horizon High School.

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The 17-year-old student died on the night of Feb. 7 when he was struck on a crosswalk by an accused hit-and-run driver suspected of being intoxicated at the intersection of Darrington Road and Pawling Drive in Horizon City. The driver faces charges of intoxication manslaughter and accident involving a death.

Romero's friends and fellow students — many wearing white and red ribbons in his honor — organized the ceremony, which started with lively corridos, Horizon High School Principal Roberto C. Trejo said.

"This music represents the music that Miguel liked, that put a smile on his face," Trejo said as a video screen showed a montage of photos of a teenager full of life: making faces with friends, eating pizza and taking selfies.

The music then turned mournful with the playing of "Amor Eterno" (Eternal Love), the modern Mexican classic about the loss of a loved one, and "Yo te extrañaré" (I'll Miss You) by Tercer Cielo, a contemporary Christian Latin pop group.

“Ya no llores por mí. Yo estoy en un lugar lleno de luz  …," the song said, meaning "don't cry for me. I'm in a place filled with light."

Romero's parents, Jose Angel Romero and Margarita Flores, and his two sisters shared hugs with a long line of students offering them condolences, the teens often walking away in tears. The memorial was in Spanish out of respect for Romero's family, said Sara Lopez, a spokeswoman for the Clint Independent School District.

Clint ISD Superintendent Juan I. Martinez offered the boy's parents his sympathies, describing their son as unique. A tree will be planted at Horizon High School in Romero's memory, school officials added.

'A student with a lot of potential'

Friends, family and teachers described Romero as a respectful, dedicated student. He was the type of student who would decorate the classroom for extra credit. His favorite book was Harry Potter and he dreamed of being an architect and designing houses.

Melissa Contreras, who was one of Romero's teachers last year, read a list of recollections from the teen's teachers. "It's not every day that you have a student who wants to be in your precalculus class," one teacher noted.

"He was a student with a lot of potential. He made this career of being a teacher worth it," Contreras said, her voice cracking with emotion. "... We will miss you. Thank you for having shared your life with us."

'You will always be special to all of us'

Two girls who were Romero's best friends read a letter and a poem, which was constructed also with the memories of other friends.

"We came to this country looking for a better future," the poem began, describing Romero as the "good kid from Cuauhtémoc, Mexico," the son of a truck driver and a protective mother. He was the only son.

The poem listed what his friends would miss most about him, including:

• His smile, how he danced, how he made them laugh.

• "No matter how bad your day was, he would make you feel better."

• "He was a light on our road."

• "You will always be special to all of us."

"You were my other half," his best friend read in her deeply personal letter. "I miss so much our conversations and the thousands of goals that we wanted to accomplish together ... I promise to try to accept it and move forward. I promise to look at the photos of us together and not cry anymore asking myself, 'Why you?'... You leave me with my soul shattered but my heart happy and content for having known you."

When the gym lights were darkened, students stood, shining the lights of their cellphones in a show of grief and unity. Later, outside, the memorial concluded with Romero's friends shouting "Por Miguel!" (for Miguel) as they released dozens of white balloons floating northward on a blue sky in honor of their friend.

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After the ceremony, Romero's grieving mother spoke briefly with reporters.

"I'm destroyed, without words," she said, hugging a framed portrait of her son close to her chest. "He was a marvelous person, an educated person, studious. He would put other people first.

"I don't have the words. It was a beautiful (ceremony). They bid him farewell beautifully. He carries them (his friends) in his heart because he always spoke about his friends. He was very friendly. He didn't have problems with anybody."

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Miguel Romero: Horizon High School mourns student's death