LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Monterey High School seniors are remembering a classmate who won\u2019t walk the stage with them at graduation.<\/p>\n
Kobe Alonzo, 18, was killed in a fireworks accident in January. He had been accepted into South Plains College welding school and was set to graduate with honors.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was my everything. I miss him so much and graduation is coming up and everyone gets to celebrate their kid and I don\u2019t,\u201d Raquel Alonzo, Kobe\u2019s mother, said.<\/p>\n
Before Christmas break, Kobe called his grandmother, Sandra Ramos Mudder, to tell her he was graduating with honors.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said he was graduating with honors and I asked him when he would find out and he said on Tuesday … but Tuesday never came for him,\u201d Mudder said.<\/p>\n
Mudder said Kobe lifted other people up and encouraged friends to keep going. He even helped get another student back in school, and that student will graduate Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was so excited cause he said he was going to graduate and he\u2019s almost done and I kept saying \u2018baby, you\u2019re not done; you\u2019re barely starting your life,\u2019\u201d Mudder said.<\/p>\n
Classmates Olivia Garcia and Emily Morales said senior year hasn\u2019t been the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was one of my closest guy friends. Since high school started, we\u2019ve always had a class together,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cWhen he left us, it was really hard to just sit in class and not do anything without him. But I know that his presence is always going to be right there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGod gave us the best classmate ever to exist, and he put him on here to bless all of us in so many different ways,\u201d Morales said.<\/p>\n
Raquel said she is proud of her son.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love you so much. And I miss you. And I want him back. I wish I could have him back. And I\u2019m proud of him. That you did that you did. You graduated with honors,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The Alonzo family will host a 5K on Sunday, May 17, in Kobe\u2019s honor. Money raised will go to a scholarship to continue Alonzo\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n