Victoria Soto always wanted to be a teacher
She died at Sandy Hook protecting her students
Victoria “Vicki” Soto blared her favorite Michael Buble Christmas album from her car as she drove to Sandy Hook School on Dec. 14, 2012.
Her uncle discovered the radio playing as loudly as it could when he picked up her car later, recalled her brother, Carlos Matthew Soto, to a Connecticut jury in early October.
That was his sister, the 25-year-old told a courtroom full of people including other families who lost loved ones that day at Sandy Hook. She loved Christmas and Christmas music, teaching, flamingos and introducing her siblings to the joys of learning, her family said.
Within minutes of learning a shooting had occurred at Sandy Hook School, her sister Jillian Soto-Marino knew in her heart that Vicki would do anything to protect her students, she told the jury.
“I just kept saying that if a gunman walked into my sister’s room, she would give her life for her students,” Soto-Marino said. “That was the type of person she was, that was the type of teacher she was.”
Vicki Soto died at 27 protecting her first grade class after a gunman burst into the school killing 20 children and six educators including the Stratford native who had wanted to be a teacher since she was three years old. The Victoria Soto School in Stratford is named for her and opened in 2015.
Her family couldn’t be reached for comment on this story, but spoke poignantly about her life during summer court proceedings for a defamation awards trial.
‘Perfect’ child and teacher
Vicki Soto would do anything for her first grade students, including tramp through a pumpkin patch the day after a foot of snow fell because she had promised the kids that there would be a pumpkin in the classroom, said her brother, the youngest of the four Soto children. He was 15 when she died. Inspired by her gifts, he became a high school English teacher. He admitted that he tries to emulate her style in the classroom.
On “crazy hair day” at the school, her brother told the jury about a photo of his sister with a sky-high hairdo that was topped with a bow.
“It was 6 a.m. and she was in the bathroom with a soda bottle and a lot of gel,” Carlos Matthew Soto said. She had placed the soda bottle on her head, piled up her hair with gel and then drove to school with her head out the car window to surprise her class, he said.
One time she wore the skirt of her prom dress for a school wacky dress up day, her mother Donna Soto told the court.
She was always the “perfect child,” never in trouble and often pointed out to the family that she held two degrees, one in education and one in history, Donna Soto said.
“She always told me I should have stopped at one (child),” her mother said with a laugh. “I cried my eyes out when she went to college.”
She began collecting books for her classroom while in high school, Donna Soto said. She always knew she was going to be a teacher, like her Aunt Debbie, her mother said.
Scholarships for students who ‘remind us of Vicki’
After she died, the family wanted remember her in a way that would honor her love of life and love of teaching. Each year since her death, the Vicki Soto Memorial Fund started by her family, has given four $5,000 renewable scholarships to students pursuing education and given teachers the opportunity to receive free books for their classrooms, her mother said.
The family has a hand in choosing scholarship recipients, Donna Soto said.
“They all are doing well,” she said. “That’s because we look for people who remind us of Vicki and have the qualities she had and the passion she had and the love for life she had.”
Many are now teachers who have sent the family photos of their classrooms, she said.
The family hosts an annual Vicki Soto 5K run that draws thousands, including many runners who are dressed as flamingos — one of her favorites — to support their literacy and educational efforts with the Vicki Soto Memorial Fund. The fund has given out $325,000 in educational scholarships and provided over $200,000 for literacy, education and community enrichment, according to the fund’s website.
The fund has donated bookcases for every school in Stratford with the Miss Soto’s Literacy Legacy program and provided free books for kids to take and for teachers’ classrooms in grades one through six.
This year over 200 teachers filled their bags with free books for their classroom libraries, Donna Soto said. “They were waiting in line when we got there,” she said. “Vicki would have been the first one in line to get books for her classroom. We feel we have been honoring her in such a good way.”