Juggling being a parent, working a full time job, getting her psychology degree, and prioritizing self-care is a lot of work, but Leslie Cruz seems to find a way to manage it all. 

Cruz works at Colton High School as the School Improvement office manager where she handles the budgets, orders supplies for teachers and staff, deals with parent involvement, and assists Ms. Murphy, Colton’s principal, with those responsibilities. 

Working full-time at Colton High would be enough for anyone, but in addition to supporting staff and students, at home Cruz devotes her time to her husband, two daughters, and Cal Baptist University, where she is working towards earning her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. She even finds the time to support her beloved Yellowjackets. This year, she escorted Homecoming Court nominee Anthony Gomez down the red carpet during the halftime ceremony.

How does she manage all of this? “Well, it’s crazy. I don’t know how some days I manage it, but I try to do a lot of self-care.”  As part of her self-care regimen, she does yoga, meditates, and watches “The Bachelorette,” her favorite show. 

She finds self-care to be a really important factor in managing her day to day life.

“And napping!” she added.

Cruz is an alum of Colton High’s class of 2001. “I struggled my first two years of high school,” she said, “but then in my last two I did really well.” 

It wasn’t easy at first for Cruz to get the hang of things in high school, but that was before she joined Renaissance. Renaissance is a leadership program dedicated to recognizing students and staff. Once she found the leadership program, she started to have a better high school experience, and even became the president of Renaissance.

Now Cruz is an essential part of Colton’s staff, and intends to use her future Psychology degree to become a mental health counselor.

And, as a lifelong part of the Colton family, of course Cruz is keeping Colton High in her plans. “I plan to use my degree to support our Wellness Center at CHS as a counselor.”