Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro says the high school student brother of one of the teachers killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School will attend the State of the Union speech as her guest next week.

Carlos Matthew Soto’s sister Victoria Soto has been praised as a hero for protecting the lives of her first graders in the attack on the school.  Twenty students and six educators were killed,  but some of Soto’s students made it to safety.

DeLauro said Carlos Matthew Soto’s presence “will be a powerful reminder that the victims of gun violence are not statistics.”

The Soto family has set up the “Vicki Soto Memorial Scholarship Fund” for students entering education.

The State of the Union Speech is scheduled for Tuesday night.