[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 164 (Wednesday, December 19, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1957]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                HONORING THE LIFE OF VICTORIA LEIGH SOTO

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROSA L. DeLAURO

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 18, 2012

  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, it is with the heaviest of hearts that I 
rise today to join the Stratford and Sandy Hook communities as they 
remember Victoria Leigh Soto who was so tragically taken from us last 
Friday. Only 27 years old, Victoria was a first-grade teacher at Sandy 
Hook Elementary School where she lost her life protecting her students. 
Room 10 lost its teacher and we lost an exceptional young woman.
  A lifelong resident of Stratford, Connecticut, Victoria graduated 
from Stratford High School in 2003 and earned a degree with high honors 
in Education and History from Eastern Connecticut State University. She 
was currently working to complete her Master's Degree at Southern 
Connecticut State University. She was a student teacher at Brewster 
Elementary School in Durham, Connecticut and in her fifth year as a 
first-grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Victoria was 
fulfilling the dream she had had since she was just three years old. 
Teaching was her passion and it showed. Her students adored her--the 
many pictures inscribed with ``I Love Miss Soto'' that adorned her desk 
a testament to the impact she had on the children she was charged to 
care for and educate each day.
  Victoria was equally as passionate about her family. In one of her 
Facebook postings she wrote of her life, ``In my spare time, I love 
spending time with my black lab, Roxie. I love spending time with my 
brothers, my sisters, and cousins.'' Family and friends have described 
her as a role model--not only to them but to everyone she met.
  As the event at Sandy Hook Elementary School unfolded, Victoria 
quickly hid her young students in closets and cabinets. When the gunman 
came into her classroom Victoria told him that her students were not in 
the class but in the gym. He turned the gun on her and she was lost to 
us. Her students would later be found by first responders, huddled 
together in the closets and cabinets. She saved each of their lives 
while sacrificing her own. Victoria was a hero in every sense of the 
word.
  The tragic event that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School and 
all of those we lost that day will never be erased from our minds. 
Though there are no words that can ease her families suffering, I hope 
that they can take some small comfort in the knowledge that Victoria 
will always be remembered as a hero. My thoughts and prayers are with 
her parents, Carlos and Donna, as well as her siblings, Jillian, 
Carlee, and Carlos Matthew, and extended family as they say goodbye to 
their angel. Victoria Leigh Soto was an extraordinary young woman and 
will long serve as an inspiration to us all.

                          ____________________