Francisco Giron

Francisco Giron was born in Chicago, Illinois. His family origins are from Mexico. His mom is from Guadalajara, Mexico and his dad is from Mexico City, Mexico. He grew up in Little Village and then moved to Mexico where he grew up for part of his life. He likes to play sports, mostly soccer, and he also likes photography. His dream for the future is to become a billionaire.                                

Francisco believes that school is better in Mexico.  He said, “you go to school for 3 hours, then you have a full 2 hour recess where you can do anything you want and then go back to class for 3 hours more”. He also told us that in education there's a lot of opportunities that people don't take advantage of, but there are times that a lack of resources hurt your opportunities.

Francisco is a City Year Corps Member.  He helps the community by coming everyday to Kelvyn Park High School and helps out most of the freshmen with any school work they may need help with. He tells the students to do their work and also helps us with problems that we don't understand. Francisco helps students more than just in the classroom, he is a great mentor and person to talk to for students who may have an issue they want to talk about. He also helps out the teachers by grading papers or whatever task the teacher needs help with.

“Every time you look outside, you know in back of your head that there's violence,” Francisco said. He told us that he likes our neighborhood in general.  He likes Hermosa because you are always with your culture, such as that when you're outside you always see a paletero or an elotero man and you know that you're with your own culture and your family. He also believes it does not matter what neighborhood you live in Chicago, and says that you're always conscious that you could get shot or killed by a drive-by or a shooting between two different gangs and that you know that something bad could happen when you go outside.

Francisco told us, “ A hero is a person that sacrifices everything to help others.” He went on to say that a hero is someone that gives up their own time to help others instead of using the time for themselves. He said that his dad was his hero and role model as he was growing up, and he still is.  His dad has always helped him when he asked or had a problem. A hero will give up his life to do good thing for others who need it in his opinion.