Senior Spotlight: Gabby Garvin (12-2)

Anna O'Neill-Dietel (12-3)

"Gabby has been passionate about getting food to people since 2007"

Photo courtesy of Gabby Garvin (12-2)

What are you looking forward to senior year?

The time to be able to really appreciate being with my peers without the stress of college in the spring, when everyone finds out where they’re going. There’s this united sense of elation and relaxing. We’re not all super stressed and we can enjoy each other’s presence.

What do you enjoy about virtual school?

The extra hour or two we get to ourselves, being able to get a headstart on work, and being able to bond with everyone over how bad things are.

I want to go to college and eventually become a lawyer. In between I hope to study abroad in France. My overall goal is to be happy. Especially with the craziness of the world, as long as I’m happy I’d say I would have achieved my goal.

You’re the captain of softball and also play volleyball and are on the swim team. What is it like right now during virtual school?

It’s kinda sad honestly. Workouts aren’t the same as going to practice. I’m used to leading a sport where I can normally be bubbly and talk to everyone and make them comfortable. Now on Zoom everyone is on mute, it’s kinda awkward. It’s sad, it detracts from high school sports and the sense of community you get from it.

You work at ShopRite. What has that experience been like this year?

There’s a disconnect in how people treat each other. I’ve had really nice people who are sympathetic, but then

I've also had people come into the store who are not wearing their mask and are very rude. It opened my eyes up to the world realistically. As far as safety precautions I’m not worried because we’ve taken all the correct measures. It’s definitely been an interesting experience because it's been a high stress time and it's been a very scary time where you have to be careful of people not wearing their masks and not respecting the guidelines. I was working for a few days in early March. There was nice hazard pay, and then my parents thought it was too risky. My mom’s autoimmune so she realized it's not worth the risk, I’m a high schooler working for spending money. I was there a couple days [in early March] and it was insane. There was one day when I wasn’t even working and I was in normal clothes. They needed someone so badly to be a cashier for the day I was there in my masterman volleyball hoodie and jeans. It was so hectic and everyone was in a panic. The shelves were empty.

You’re interested in pursuing law. What inspired this interest?

Debate firstoff. I fell in love with debating. I get this rush when I’m debating and it's really fun. I never had that with an activity. I also work at a Shoprite and I see a lot of problems with inequity and lack of sympathy for other people. Those things combined made me realize I really want to help people, I really like arguing and reading and writing. It kind of clicked.

What’s the origin story of your nickname Triple G?

When I started Masterman softball, Mr. O’Neill was going to call me Double G because of my name, Gabby Garvin. I became friends with these two seniors, Zora Charles and Sacha Greenhouse. They didn’t know me that well, but one of the very first days, Zora started calling me Triple G because that’s what they thought Mr. O’Neill’s nickname for me was. No one really questioned it for a while, and I started playing third base so I thought maybe that was why. One day it was brought to her attention, and she was like, “What, I always thought your name was Gabby Garcia-Gonzalez or something!” She just misinterpreted it and ever since it stuck.

If you could give one piece of advice to your freshman self, what would it be?

I would say to put yourself out there and break the norms you think you have to follow because you’re in Masterman or in high school.

The second I started being more me is when I became more happy and I found exactly what I wanted to do.

What are your hopes and dreams for after high school?