When people first meet Cassandra Soto, one of the first things that they probably see is how passionate she is about animals. How her heart goes out to pets left behind during natural disasters and to animals that have been hurt or abandoned by people. They might see it through the way she talks about wanting to study to become a vet tech or by how she says she might even like to open her very own animal clinic one day. The fact that she has three cats, a dog, and a baby kitten that she helped rescue and take care of after his mother abandoned him probably says something as well.  

But they don’t know the entire story.  

Cassandra was born in El Paso and lived there until she was twelve years old, when she moved to Fort Worth and attended Creekview Middle School. Besides animals, she enjoys photography and music, even if she doesn’t have a lot of downtime for either.  

Now a junior at CTHS, she is beginning to look for a college that she would like to attend, one where she could stay close to her home and tight knit family. At the moment, she is balancing school and her new job while still preparing for her future, but she wasn’t always so focused on the road ahead of her. Cassandra recalls how, in the past few years, her priorities have shifted from slacking off to getting more focused on making good grades, along with realizing what she wants to do later in her life. She always knew she wanted to go into the medical field, but as she became more mature and experienced, Cassandra realized that she wanted to work specifically with animals.

“Things get busier and crazier junior year,” she said. “It’s kind of just about balancing everything and keeping up with all the things you have to do.”