Sandy Hook victims mourned for lives cut short
USA TODAY
Published 6:24 p.m. ET Dec.16, 2012 - Updated 1:01 a.m. ET Dec. 18, 2012

Victoria Soto, 27

Victoria Soto was known as Miss Victoria Soto in Room 10, a smiling teacher who underscored her enthusiasm over teaching first-graders with exclamation points.

On her page on the school's website, she wrote: "I absolutely love teaching first grade!'' and "I look forward to an amazing year in first grade with my amazing students of room 10!"

Soto's lifelong dream was to be a teacher.

"She was all about molding those young minds," her cousin, James Wiltsie, told ABC News.

The 27-year-old died in the classroom she loved, reportedly making the ultimate sacrifice Friday by sheltering her students in a classroom closet and coming between them and the gunman, Wiltsie said.

It's not clear how many of Soto's students died.

Gillian Chanko is now 13 and in 8th grade but remembers Soto as a young teachers' aide.

"She was really, really nice," she said. "It didn't surprise me that she was one of the first to try to save her kids."

Soto still lived where she grew up in Stratford, Conn. She graduated from Eastern Connecticut State University and was getting a master's in special education at Southern Connecticut State University.

"I love to spend time with black lab Roxie," she wrote. "I love spending time with my brother, sisters and cousins. … I also love flamingos and the New York Yankees."

Wiltsie told ABC: "Unfortunately, she lost her life, but knowing the way she lost it, I'm proud to call her family. … She was a hero trying to protect the children."