Beginning of a Legacy: WEHS Freshman’s Legacy Begins in Wylie with Hopeful Aspirations of One Day Reaching the White House

Wylie East High School freshman Marco Hunter-Lopez plans to one day run for Congress; he’s already made connections and built relationships to pave his way to the White House.

Visiting with his grandmother about politics is what started Hunter-Lopez’s political journey.

“I feel called to it,” Hunter-Lopez said. “I try to follow what God gives me. What he tells me to do is His will -- not my will. Whether it’s through politics or not, I try to help people.”

And helping people is what he has done -- securing brand new flags for Burnett Junior High.

It was at a PTA meeting, where Hunter-Lopez serves on the board, that kickstarted his collaboration with BJHS Principal Levi Turner to start a legacy. Turner said that he wanted to honor those who have served with “The Legacy Project.”

“Mr. Turner said that he wanted to start a project to have the biggest flags in the district and that he wanted to build a memorial for veterans at Burnett,” Hunter-Lopez said.

Hunter-Lopez coordinated the donation of a new 8-feet by 12-feet American Flag with Congressman Keith Self.

“I knew Congressman Self had served and I wanted to get the community involved,” he said. “I went to a few of his campaign events and talked to him about The Legacy Project.”

In a small ceremony Aug. 6, Hunter-Lopez’s networking came to fruition. In attendance were the BJHS staff, Hunter-Lopez, his family, and Susan Fischer, a representative from Self’s office.

BJHS teacher and veteran Patrick Baley, and Turner, also a veteran, helped raise the flag to kick off the start of the 2024-25 school year.

Both Turner and Hunter-Lopez were presented with certificates from Self’s office commemorating the event.

“We still needed a state flag,” Hunter-Lopez said.

Since a member of Congress cannot give the state flag, State Representative Candy Noble stepped in to donate the Texas flag to the project. One week later, in another small ceremony, a new Texas flag was hoisted at BJHS, joining the new U.S. flag.

Noble presented Hunter-Lopez with another certificate commemorating his endeavors.

“I’m going to hang it on my wall with the others,” Hunter-Lopez said, referencing his several certificates from other public servants.

With the donation of two new flags, the largest in the district according to Burnett, the BJHS Legacy Project isn’t yet complete. Next, Hunter-Lopez plans to coordinate with Turner a memorial for veterans.

“We want to honor veterans tied to our community with bricks with either veterans’ or donors’ names on them,” Hunter-Lopez said. “I try to see the unseen.”