Upon graduating Elementary School and entering Middle School, Jose’s mother passed away. Due to his father constantly moving back forth between the United States and Mexico, Jose and his sister began to live with their grandmother. Once his father remarried, his father would discuss the idea of the entire family moving up to the United States. Being extremely attached to his grandmother and the close friends he had made in his town, Jose was greatly against the idea of leaving Mexico because “it was the teenage years, that you’re like ‘this is fun'”. His family ultimately ended up moving to Platte City, Missouri in 1998 when he was a Sophomore in High School.