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learned how to add the features I looked for and piece together the dimensions for the gripper. It struck me as … beautiful that I could bring this gripper to life in a matter of hours with the 3D printer in my local library.”

But Hugo’s love of his family takes top priority. For example, his mother and father had for years dreamed of going to Las Vegas. One day, Hugo heard his mother dismiss it as just one of those impossible dreams we all have. Hearing his mom say that really irritated Hugo. He hates hearing anyone say something is impossible, so he decided to do something about it. He raised enough money through his various entrepreneurial endeavors to send his parents on their dream vacation. While they were gone, he ran his dad’s taqueria.

It was hard work, he admits. He had to deal with all of the things that smallbusiness people deal with every day, from customer complaints to employee dissatisfaction, but he managed to do it without calling his dad for help, even once, he says. And his mom and dad? Their dream vacation turned out to be all they’d hoped for. In Vegas, they had the time of their lives, strolling arm and arm and As our talk winds down, I ask the young man: What do you see yourself doing in the future? Hugo explains that someday he wants to open a company in AI that will make more dexterous robotic appendages. Here again, his parents figure prominently in his thoughts. Over the years, he’s noticed how tired and sore they are after a long day’s work. Robots at home would help them to be able to pursue their own interests in the evening. His dad, Hugo tells me, has always loved art, while his mom has an interest in psychology, but neither can pursue these activities because work trumps everything and even after work they’re both too worn out. But whatever Hugo ends up doing, he hopes to continue to be very vocal about environmental issues and racial equality.

I wish the young man luck, and we fist bump on one of those last halcyon nights when restaurants and bars were still crowded. Then I receive my to-go order, a gigantic carne asada burrito. And when I get home, I treat myself to an icecold cerveza negra and one muy sabroso burrito that no way in the world could my girlfriend and I ever finish at one sitting.

A postscript: First, the good news. A week after I talked to Hugo, he learned he was one of 150 students throughout the country named a Coca-Cola Scholar, which gifted him $20,000 for college, a great and well-deserved honor. Also, he was accepted by Georgia Tech University in Atlanta and Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, so now he has to decide between them and the University of Texas in Austin that had already accepted him with a scholarship.

The not-so-bad news: The LatinX Conference has been delayed until October. At this time, it’s unclear if Hugo will be able to attend.

Now for the bad news. A few weeks after we talked, I learned that Hugo was self-quarantining. He had flu-like symptoms. He felt achy and weak. A doctor tested him for a number of different diseases, but not one came up positive. And because he was not over the age of 60 and had no underlying health conditions, the doctor would not test him for COVID-19. And his dad had to shut down, at least temporarily, Dos Amigos.

I felt terrible for Hugo and his family, but, at the same time, my thoughts inched in a more selfish direction. How long had it been since I’d interviewed Hugo? I quickly checked my calendar. More than two weeks. I could stop my deep breathing.

A week later, I texted Hugo to find out how he was doing. When I got his text, I was almost too scared to check, but it turned out to be all good. He was feeling much better. And, Hugo being Hugo, he’d organized a fundraiser to donate N95 masks to hospitals, even feeling well enough to hit me up for a donation. l

Fort Worth writer Ken Wheatcroft-Pardue retired from teaching at Carter-Riverside High School in 2013.