MPW.55 | Lara Cerri

• VIEW STORY: Bulldogs' Immaculate Angel •

The world of Louisiana High School seems to revolve around Sonja Burse. Students come to her for advice and teachers tell her secrets. She knows which boy has the latest crush, and which girl has been mean to another.

Sonja Burse is the high school's custodian.

Her job begins before the sun rises, but does not end with the last school bell at 2:30 p.m. Her afternoons are filled with teaching moments as an aide at Louisiana Elementary School and gate duty at softball games. Some of her evenings and weekend hours are spent in homes as a child advocate for the group Parents as Teachers.

Even stray cats wind their way past her backyard dogs to find their daily meal in a pie tin.

The single mother of a 15-year-old daughter, Sonja Burse handles her home life as she does her job - with competence, compassion, and grace.

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		Lara Cerri \| St. Petersburg Times \| St. Petersburg, Fl	Students J. Carrier Sharon Cekada Lara Cerri Cindy Chew Angela Cleaver Dan Dalstra Andreas Fuhrmann Angela Goodman Ira Gostin Chris Hall Eri Oishi Jenna Isaacson Kristy May Ted McLaren Peter Meecham Lindsay Miller Adam Newman J.O. Parker Holly Pickett Marc-Yves Regis Kristin Roberts Rosemarie Rogers Genevieve Russell Jan-Michael Stump Bryan Van Der Beek Todd Weddle Coke Whitworth Frank Wiese Cliff Williams
		• VIEW STORY: Bulldogs' Immaculate Angel • The world of Louisiana High School seems to revolve around Sonja Burse. Students come to her for advice and teachers tell her secrets. She knows which boy has the latest crush, and which girl has been mean to another. Sonja Burse is the high school's custodian. Her job begins before the sun rises, but does not end with the last school bell at 2:30 p.m. Her afternoons are filled with teaching moments as an aide at Louisiana Elementary School and gate duty at softball games. Some of her evenings and weekend hours are spent in homes as a child advocate for the group Parents as Teachers. Even stray cats wind their way past her backyard dogs to find their daily meal in a pie tin. The single mother of a 15-year-old daughter, Sonja Burse handles her home life as she does her job - with competence, compassion, and grace.