By Azariah Smith ’23
Hundreds of teachers from all over Connecticut come together for an annual charity run in honor of Victoria Soto, a former teacher who died a hero in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012. Victoria “Vicki” Soto was described as passionate, loving, and creative. Soto was so excited to start teaching at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Her family says that she loved to be in her classroom and teaching was more than just a job for her. Students described her as the “cool” teacher.
The 5K race is held every November to raise money for scholarships for students who have the passion to be a teacher. The scholarship is given to two students that attend any high school in Stratford,and the scholarship has also been opened up to now include winners nationally. James Piazza, Social Studies teacher, helped bring together DHS teachers to participate in the 2022 Vicky Soto 5k race. “I’m big on team building here at the high school and I want everyone to have a chance to hangout outside of school, especially something that benefits others,” Piazza stated. Piazza says this event is a positive one that brings many people together, including Soto’s family.
A few teachers from DHS were there and participated in the race including Amy Reilly, librarian, Nicole Borges, English teacher, Ryan Adams, math teacher, Molly Sullivan, math and science instructional coach, and more. Many of the teachers described this event to be peaceful and exciting to come together for a good cause. Sullivan, the first woman to finish the race this year, had a time of twenty-one minutes and twenty-one seconds. Ryan Adams had a time of twenty minutes and four seconds.
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