Yessenia Santoyo is the proud mother of seven children. While working a full-time job may not allow her to be at every thing that they do or are a part of, she makes sure that they know she is cheering them on.
“One of the toughest parts about being the parent of athletes is not being able to make it to all the games due to life and sometimes work does not permit me to be there,” she said. “But I am always there in spirit. I encourage them to join the soccer clubs in town or play with friends for some extra practice. If they need to go to the fields, I am more than happy to take them. I try to help them in any way that I can.”
Yessenia’s oldest, Armando, is a senior at Clinton High School where he plays soccer. Fresham Ruben, eighth-grader Yair, and fifth-grader Yayli all also attend Clinton and play soccer. She also has three young boys, Jio, Julian, and Roel that love to play and learn soccer moves from their siblings.
Santoyo is a Dietary Manager at Homestead Assisted Living in Clinton. She says that she is thankful to work for this company.
“I have been a part of the Homestead family for three years now and I am truly blessed to be a part of such a great team,” she said. “They are really my home away from home. When I am not at work, I love spending time with my family and friends, baking, laughing, and going to soccer games.”
Along with cheering for her kids and their teammates at their games, Yessenia also volunteers to help out with the team as a member of the booster club and helps with fundraisers for the teams.
“I am one of three moms in charge of the soccer booster for our school district,” she said. “We recently had a tamales sale where we sold a whopping 2,000 tamales for our soccer club. It was a great turn out and all the soccer players and some parents helped out. We had a great time. It was really heart warming to see everyone come together and dominate their time.”
The community of Clinton is a great place that Yessenia is proud to be able to raise her family.
“I love how willing the soccer coaches are when it comes to helping the kids out in any way possible,” she said. “Our community is definitely the ones to thank when it comes to raising money. You can definitely feel the love.”
