Mr. Gabrick has been a teacher at Padua since the fourth quarter of the 2011-2012 school year when he came to fill in for the late Mr. Potter. He has been teaching history here since then. Yet Mr. Gabrick’s connection with Padua was established years before 2012. “I actually began my connection with Padua when I met Ms. Markham at a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar in Philadelphia in 1993,” he stated. “I visited the school and worked with students doing National History Day often since then. My friendship and professional connections with Ms. Markham are the reason I came to Padua to teach.” With the end of this school year rapidly approaching, it is also the last few days of teaching for Mr. Gabrick, so here are five questions with the well-loved history teacher.

• What do you love most about teaching history?

“I love to learn about the past. I also love the opportunity to share what I know with [such] wonderful students. I enjoy doing research and writing books and magazine articles based on my research. Ultimately, learning about the past helps us understand the present. Not that history repeats itself, but humans do tend to respond in similar ways.”

• Will you continue to make an appearance at Padua sports events as you’ve done in the past?

“I will be back often during the school year doing writing and research. Padua sports will be on my agenda often. I have to come to swim meets of course! I am a fan, what can I say.”

• What’s the first thing you’re going to do when you retire?

“Retirement is a word that I don’t think applies to me. I feel more like it is that I just changed what I have been doing to focus on something else. I will write–but have more time for that now. No homework to grade!”

• What will you miss most about Padua?

“I love coming to school. I know that sounds weird, but it is true. Of course I want days off, but not because I don’t like my job. I really love being involved in learning with people. What I will miss are people I enjoy being with every day. “

• Do you have any words of wisdom or advice to give to the students you’ve taught these past couple of years?

“‘Words of wisdom’–I have tried to impart wisdom by modeling things each day. Be kind, caring, and thoughtful of others. Be truly interested in others. Never tire of learning, and have a mind of your own. Question opinions and beliefs accepting only what is based on evidence. I like W.H. Auden’s words:

‘Clear, unscalable, ahead

Rise the Mountains of Instead,

From whose cold, cascading streams

None may drink except in dreams.’”