ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — When a high school kid gets an after-school job, it's not usually because the company is begging him to work there.
But not every high school kid was like Kendrick Castillo.
“That is Kendrick’s design. The entire thing from start to finish," said Rachel Short, the President/CEO of Baccara USA, a manufacturing and engineering solutions company.
She was pointing to a floor plan for their engineering factory in Englewood.
Castillo designed it, and the company implemented his design.
“There is no kid getting ready to graduate high school that has that extent of knowledge," said Short.
Castillo was killed in a shooting at his high school, STEM Scool Highlands Ranch. Classmates say just before he was shot, Castillo lunged at the gunman, allowing others to take cover.
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When Castillo was 17, he interned at the company. His internship ended in June, but Short wanted him to stay.
“When we were done I just saw that there was something in him that was extraordinary," said Short. "And I said. 'Kendrick what can I do to keep you around?'”
For the last year, Castillo was a part-time worker who created new techniques and designed new contraptions.
He worked extra hours and came in on Saturdays to learn the equipment that wasn't part of his job.
Short said Castillo was professional beyond what she imagined of a kid in high school. His emails ended with an Albert Einstein quote: "A ship is always safe on the shore, but that's not what ships are for."
“When I heard somebody at that shooting lunged in front of the shooter, I honestly knew instantly it was Kendrick," said Short. "Because that’s who he was.”
She said she doesn't know what to do with the graduation gift in the back of her car. It's a binder with his name, and a quote that said: "shoot for the moon."
Short called him brilliant, but humble and wanted to hire him when he finished engineering school.
"He truly was one in a million and was going somewhere so fast and so far, but yet he was going to bring everybody with him in his success."
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