"The nice thing about this place is that it's cool to be good in school and kids are not going to be put down for that," Behrman said. "Francisco has got a tremendous curiosity. He's polite but willing to ask questions. He really soaks everything up, and for an educator, that's a dream."
Francisco said his intense interest about the world was stoked during his first year at Crossroads. Once dedicated to math and English, he found himself becoming passionate about history and science.
He read "Romeo and Juliet" and especially loved "The Odyssey," Homer's ancient Greek epic poem.
He also went bowling for the first time for a physical education class.
He was one of only three freshmen in his creative writing class, which produces the school's creative arts journal, Dark as Day. In his prose poem, "Darkness at Bay," he writes of what the past means and what the future holds.
"I look up at the stars and
compare myself to them,
And find that I am a molecule
Of a needle in a huge
haystack."
He wants to teach himself Russian over the summer and is also planning to take summer classes at Crossroads in guitar and maybe vocals.
"I can't wait to get back to school," he said. "I'm starting to miss it already."
--
carla.rivera@latimes.com
