‘Ms. Daisy’ drives her way into the hearts of Seaton Elementary students

The daisy is a delightful flower that opens each morning — the origin of its name, derived from an Old English term meaning “day’s eye.” So it’s only appropriate that Gloria Torrento Del Cid is known to everyone around her by a twist on her middle name, “Ms. Daisy.” Like her namesake, she provides warmth and happiness each morning to the students and faculty at Seaton Elementary School.

“When I wake up I am happy,” Torrento Del Cid said. As the administrative officer at Seaton, a DC public school in Ward 6 serving the Shaw and Logan Circle neighborhoods, she works hard to build close relationships between students’ families and Seaton faculty members. 

“If Seaton were a family, Ms. Daisy would be the mother,” said Seaton principal Suzanne Jacobs. 

In addition to her typical administrative duties, which include greeting families and registering new students, Torrento Del Cid has worked tirelessly to ensure that Spanish-speaking families are afforded the same opportunities as English-speaking ones. About 42% of the school’s 394 students last year were Hispanic/Latino.

“It’s not her career; it’s more of a calling,” said Melissa Valladares, Torrento Del Cid’s niece and owner of Bethesda Preparatory Preschool in Maryland.

Her hard work paid off in June when she was presented with a Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Award for outstanding public service. She also won School Staff Member of the Year in February at DC Public Schools’ annual Standing Ovation awards ceremony.

“She brings an importance to recognizing one’s culture and valuing one’s culture,” Jacobs said.  

Torrento Del Cid is all too familiar with families’ struggles to provide better opportunities for their children, having immigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador in 1999. Her degree in business from Universidad Politécnica de El Salvador seems a lifetime away from the life she has now working with children. Her daughter, Gabriela, was only 1 year old when Torrento Del Cid started working in the before- and after-school programs at the Spanish Education Development Center in Silver Spring, Maryland. She simultaneously took English classes at night.

“I was working in Maryland and [had] graduated with a degree in administration and business,” Torrento Del Cid said. “I never imagined I would come [to Seaton] and work with the children.”

After starting as an administrative aide at Seaton in 2011, “Ms. Daisy” soon began to forge close relationships with students and families and to drive initiatives that would allow easy transitions for immigrant families. 

“We have an extremely diverse school in both students and staff,” Jacobs said. “Ms. Daisy will be sure on Christmas students have toys, that they have backpacks, that they have supplies — she makes sure all of their needs are met.”

One important method Seaton uses to meet those educational needs is the “home visit,” during which two staff members stop by each student’s home at the beginning of the school year to “help learn what the parents want and their goals,” according to Jacobs. Since Seaton has a large population of Spanish speakers, Torrento Del Cid often accompanies staff on these visits, serving as a translator and liaison between the school and the families.

“Home visits are my favorite,” Torrento Del Cid said. “I explain that we are here to know what happened at school and how we can help.” 

Home visits are only a small portion of Ms. Daisy’s job. She has coordinated with local organizations to provide food and winter coats to children, cooked pupusas for families enduring hardships, partnered with the mayor’s office to operate a food bank benefiting Seaton families, and translated for sick students in the school’s clinic. In 2014 she helped launch an Enrollment Fair for prospective students and their families that has increased Seaton enrollment by almost 25%. 

“She may have one [job] title but she really does it all,” said Monica Bates, whose son attends Seaton.

When asked about her efforts, Torrento Del Cid is extremely humble but thrilled to talk about the work she loves. The job is not without its challenges, however.

“The hardest part is when I cannot provide resources to help them; then sometimes I cry,” she said. 

The other part of Ms. Daisy’s job that she especially enjoys is the school’s annual multicultural day, when students are encouraged to highlight their diverse backgrounds by bringing in foods from different parts of the world. This excites her because she loves both cooking and instilling in students the importance of valuing one’s culture. She loves bringing in pupusas — a Salvadoran dish made of thick flatbread usually stuffed with meat or squash — to share with the students. Much of the food she cooks with comes from her own garden (and no, she doesn’t grow any daisies there).

“I love cooking any kind of food,” Torrento Del Cid said. “I have tomatoes, green peppers, jalapeños, and I have roses because my mother loved roses.” 

Of the $7,500 cash prize Torrento Del Cid received along with her Cafritz Award, she says she will give part of the money to her daughter to attend medical school next year. As for the other portion: “We talked with the principal and I will be starting a Spanish club in the school,” she said.

Torrento Del Cid is known for having a lasting impact on the children and families she works with — an impact that continues well after they’ve moved past elementary school.

“Even on a weekend she’ll be like, ‘I’m going to a quinceañera,’” Valladares said, referring to the traditional celebration of a 15-year-old girl’s birthday in Latinx culture. “And it’ll be for a student she hasn’t worked with in years.”

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This is the fourth installment of The DC Line’s spotlight series on this year’s Cafritz Award winners. Read about the MPD language access officer who strives to ensure all are heard; the sergeant paramedic who set up the DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department’s cadaver dog program; and the Department of General Services boiler operator who keeps the Columbia Heights Educational Campus tuned up and energy efficient. You can also learn about last year’s honorees in our 2018 profiles.