Derek Miguel Hurtado was born in the early morning hours of March 28, 2011. He was born in Houston, Texas, just like his parents, siblings, and cousins. Derek is the second child of his immediate family, and he is the first male great-grandson of the Hurtado family. He is in 8th grade with all of his friends. Derek is the only male son of his family. He has an older sister, Idalis. She was born 4 years before Derek. Derek also has a younger sister. She that was born 13 months after him and her name is Sarai.  They all like to go to concerts and sporting events together. They also like to playing soccer, just like their dad. Derek’s parents are named Adrian and Brenda Hurtado and they work in middle schools. Derek's dad is a principal and his mom is a librarian. In 2020, the last member of the Derek's immediate family arrived. His name is Cosmo, a small, tan colored Chihuahua. 

Derek loves his family, pet, and soccer. He spends most of his free time playing soccer and video games. Derek plays with RISE U14 ECNL team, which is the top team for his age group. The top team gets to do a lot of traveling to away games, so Derek team has had the opportunity to play against teams from all around the United States and even a few teams from other countries, like Mexico and South Africa. Derek's team has played tournaments in Georgia, Louisiana, Florida, Las Vegas. Derek has been playing soccer since he was eight years old. He has played for RISE since he was 3 years old. In additional to being athletic. Derek also enjoys building Legos, playing video games, and taking pictures.

During the school year, Derek has very little downtime. He only has time for school, family, and soccer. Soccer practices for Derek are Monday through Thursday, so in between school and practices Derek plays with his dog, does school work, and practices mental math. Derek is a good student and has been on the honor roll every year. Derek is very skilled at doing mental math and competes in the Number Sense UIL Academic Team for his school. He has been in math participating in math competitions since the 3rd grade and plans to compete again this school year. He has placed every time he has completed in a math competition. Derek likes going to number sense practices with Ms. Najera and staying with his friends to learn new techniques for doing mental math.

Derek has also received other awards in school, such as being named Student of the Month, Athlete of the Week, and he has been in National Honor Society for 2 years. Only a few students are invited to be part of the Honor Society. Derek has been invited because he maintains good grades and spends time helping organize events for the school, like the Fall Festival, school dances, and goodie sales. Derek is also part of his school's Student Council and Young Gentlemen's Club. He works as a library helper and helps get the gym ready for athletes.

Derek's goal for this school year is to continue working hard in school and work on his writing skills.. In school he wants to keep his grades in the 90s and talk to more kids in other grades. He want to work on managing his time better and making time to read. Outside of school, Derek wants to continue to be involved with his church and be a part of the community service projects that the church organizes.  He wants to work on eating heathier and exercising to stay fit. Derek's goal in life is to be a good, kind person with a good education that will help him find a good job to support his family and help others in his community.