Mrs. Luz Martha Soto is the second in our series of our unsung heroes at Cypress. She is part of our custodial staff, someone you have no doubt seen around campus and who you can always count on for stocking or cleaning.
Mrs. Soto was born in Puerto Rico and raised in New York. In her teenage years, she went to an all-girls school and enjoyed the friends that she made, though she wasn’t a fan of going to school. Eventually, she moved to Fort Myers.
Before coming to Cypress, she worked at Lee Memorial Hospital doing a similar job on the weekends. She was then recommended to work at Cypress, where she has been for 22 years, giving her more hours and a chance to be closer to the environment she wanted to be in as a kid.
Her dream job as a child was to be a teacher, to be around children and help them, and her favorite part of her job here is working with students around. She also enjoys the fact that she is always busy. “Y’know it’s funny but I do love my job, there’s always something to do…if anyone needs something they come to me and I just try to take care of it,” said Mrs. Soto. On the other hand, her least favorite part of her job is any time there is a lack of communication either with students or staff.
Mrs. Soto’s hero is her mother who has passed. But another person she considers a hero is another member of Cypress’s staff, Assistant Principal Bond, about whom Mrs. Soto said, “I love her, we get along beautifully.”
Many may not know but Mrs. Soto loves to cook dishes such as rice and beans, which she shares with staff in the teacher dining, and she mentioned that her goal is to have a food truck as soon as she retires.
If she could offer anyone one piece of advice to the Cypress community, it would be, “Do what you need to do to get ahead.”
Keep a look out for our school’s unsung heroes, like Mrs. Soto, and make sure to thank them for all they do to make Cypress great. We asked her whether she found all the messes left behind annoying, and she surprised us by saying, “If they don’t leave a mess what am I going to clean?” But still – we here at The Panther Post urge you to pick up after yourself.
