John Alexander Quinones Memorial Scholarship

John Quinones Memorial Scholarship

December 23, 2021, started off as any day would, an alarm clock going off and wishing for five more minutes; except this day would turn out to be like no other day. This was the morning that John Alex couldn’t bear one more day, and took his life at the age of 15 years old. He was a freshman in High School, a straight A student, popular by most standards and yet still struggled to find his way and feel as if he belonged. You see, depression is a thief and anxiety is a liar and they tell those we love, that there is something wrong with them and that they don’t belong; which couldn’t be farther from the truth. John would have been 19 years old, August 2025, thinking about his future plans, visiting family and dreaming of where he might go before starting off on his college adventures. He was a kind soul, who always thought of others before himself. He wasn’t perfect, no one is, but he was perfectly John.

While 3 1/2 years has passed, it still feels as if someone is holding down the pause and fast forward buttons at the same time, with constant reminders life doesn’t stop for anyone; but life did stop for us. We lost a loving son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin, friend and overall amazing individual, with whom we miss dearly every day.

In honor of what would have been John’s graduation year we are creating a scholarship, to keep his memory alive through caring. We will be selecting 15 students from his graduating class based on teacher nominations in three categories: Academics, Great Potential and Sweetest Soul. These three categories were chosen because John was a phenomenal student, cared for everyone but was still a little lost as to where he fit into the world.

For anyone interested in donating to this scholarship, we would be forever grateful. We plan to continue for as long as we are able to provide funding and any additional funds above and beyond the goal will be used for the next year’s scholarship.

With warmest regards,

John’s Family