The chaos of loud students disperses as school ends and students head home; as they leave, garbage is left scattered across the school. Litter covers the school grounds. While everyone is leaving, custodian Eduardo Suarez stays behind.

Suarez has been working at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School for 12 years. As the head custodian, he works with his staff of 16 other custodians to keep the school clean and functional, some of which include Menard Augustin, Yaneth Beltran, Helena Vajello and Leidy Cifuentes.

Suarez has been working as a custodian for 20 years. After eight years of working as a custodian, he became a custodian at MSD. He had to take online courses to prepare him for his current role as head custodian, along with working as a custodian for two to three years to prove his capability of holding responsibility and leadership.

As head custodian, Suarez runs all of the custodial business on school grounds. Suarez cleans up garbage and messes left by students after both lunches, and recently has been working on fixing the exterior of the school. For example, he is working on cleaning up the branches left behind on the campus after Hurricane Ian.

Suarez did not expect to be Non-Instructional Staff Member of the Year, an award given to a staff member, besides a teacher, from MSD for their work throughout the year. He took it as a shock, since he had won Non-Instructional Staff Member of the year multiple times previously. Suarez explained he was embarrassed when he won.

“[I was] embarrassed when I won. I was happy though,” Suarez said.“I would have preferred the other person to me, because I’m very shy and she deserved it too. I have won a couple times but, you know, the people voted for me so there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Suarez was unaware he was entered for the Non-Instructional Staff Member of the Year because the application was anonymously completed by a coworker.

Suarez assumes it is because of his part in the school. He loves to work at MSD. One of the reasons he likes working at a school are the people. He likes the staff and the students.

“I love to work with kids. I have three kids and two grandkids,” Suarez said.

Suarez likes to work with kids because they bring him joy and give him memories of his family, who he loves very much. When he is not at school, he enjoys going fishing and spending time with family.

Suarez loves to work at MSD because of the overall atmosphere and environment. He enjoys the people around him knowing what he does for them and their environment such as keeping them safe by providing a clean campus.

Aside from the fact that Suarez has been with MSD since 2010, he has been working diligently to keep the school clean and dedicates time to ensure everything is done right, like garbage disposal and cleaning the cafe, courtyard, and restrooms. He believes his participation in maintaining the school is the reason he won.

“People know that I do a good job. They appreciate what I do… I try to maintain the school as clean as I can and make sure everything is safe because that’s my job: to supervise,” Suarez said.

Suarez loves his job and enjoys caring for the school. He is honored to be head custodian as he has worked hard for the position and hopes to impact MSD students for years to come.