Happiness can be doing dishes for kids

MATTAWA - The first thing to attract your attention to Federico Cruz is his smile. He lives on the positive side of life.

Cruz is a janitor at Wahluke High School. Instead of drudgery and monotony, he sees his job as a step up in life.

"It all depends on how you value work," he said.

Upward movement is what Cruz sought when he came to America in 2001 from Izucar de Matamorros, Puebla, Mexico.

"I was looking for a better future for my family," he said.

In Mexico, Cruz worked in housing construction and made about $25 a day. He knew he could earn more than $100 a day in the U.S.

But there wasn't a construction job for Cruz. So he went to work in the orchards for Stemilt, pruning trees and picking fruit.

Cruz had finished 12th grade in Mexico and received a diploma. The good news here was that employers were willing to recognize it like a GED.

In his second year in America, Cruz started to move up the ladder of success. He took a job with the cleaning company ABM, which had the contract with the Wahluke schools. He worked as a substitute for two years.

Then Cruz moved up to part time employee working for ABM at the intermediate and middle schools for two years.

There wasn't enough income to support a family as a substitute or part-time. So Cruz continued at Stemilt, working the orchards in the mornings and at the school from 4-8 p.m.

"The work at the schools was like something extra for me," he said. "And it was better than working in the fields."

In 2004, Cruz took another step upwards, becoming a groundskeeper at Desert Aire Golf Course. He did irrigation and mowed tees and greens.

"I learned a lot," he said.

Cruz started early in the morning at Desert Aire and worked seven hours. Then he went to the schools for his 4-8 shift.

In 2008, ABM gave up the contact at the schools, but Cruz did not have to leave. He became a full time district employee late that year. He worked from 6 a.m.-1 p.m. at Desert Aire, then went to his 3-11:30 p.m. shift at the schools.

While that may seem like a lot of work, it was necessary. Cruz had come from Mexico dreaming of a place of his own. He purchased a lot in 2005 and put a house on it in 2008.

"I thanked God for allowing me to complete one of my goals," he said.

Cruz has cut back on the work hours now. In December of 2012 he started working days for the district. He's responsible for keeping the high school office, the music department, the auditorium and the dining hall clean.

That last assignment includes helping with the lunchtime dishes. He scrapes scraps from trays into trash cans and delivers the trays to the washers.

"I don't mind at all," he said. "I get to see all of the kids."

Wahluke High School is special to Cruz. His four daughters are graduates, and all of them are in careers or studying for careers.

"I can't ask for anything more," he said. "I got what I was looking for."