Amid the hustle and bustle of the southern Denver metro area is a quiet act of recognition for Denver’s own Kendrick Castillo, a Catholic student at the Highlands Ranch STEM High School who gave his life to protect his friends during the tragic shooting there in 2019.
Douglas County announced Tuesday that it was in the final stage of formally renaming Lucent Boulevard to Kendrick Castillo Way in honor of the heroic student. The announcement came after the Kendrick Castillo Memorial Oversight Committee requested the name change, which the Board of Douglas County Commissioners green-lit last year.
The formal renaming ceremony took place in December 2024, with Kendrick’s parents, John and Maria, their family and friends, the Board of Douglas County Commissioners, Gov. Jared Polis, Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly and other state and local representatives.
“As founder and chairman of the Kendrick Castillo Memorial Committee, I believed it was very important for our community to turn tragedy into triumph and elevate the name of one of our greatest heroes, Kendrick Castillo, as a beacon of courage and heroism to all who come to Douglas County,” said Commissioner Abe Laydon in the release posted to the Douglas County website. “Kendrick Castillo Way is more than a street sign; it is a way of life. Running into the danger and the unknown to save others, sacrificing your life to save someone else – that’s the highest expression of who we can be as humans and as Coloradans.”
Douglas County reports that the last signs will be replaced by Friday, February 21, officially recognizing the roadway’s new name.
A tremendous honor for the young man who “gave everything he is, and everything he had — family, a future, a degree, his life — so other young men and women could go back to their families, have a future, graduate and live,” as Bishop Jorge Rodríguez said in his homily at Kendrick’s funeral, the newly renamed roadway will stand as a tribute to the local witness of Jesus’ own words: “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
