Ms. Gabi talks about tradition, community, and experience
The Giant Spirit is a core part of our community. It shapes our relationships in school and takes over our lives as students. Gabriela Denucci, known to most as Ms. Gabi, is one of our alumni who have decided to return to work at EAC. Always with a smile on her face, you can spot her across the hallway, or when you need help at peer tutoring. Coming from a family that has been deeply involved in our community, Ms. Gabi has seen three siblings graduate from our school and the growth of EAC in recent years. In a nostalgic, yet optimistic interview, Ms. Gabi reflects on the evolution of the Giant Spirit throughout the years.
AC: Being a member of our community for so long, what changes have you noticed from when you were a student to becoming a Staff member?
GD: From when I was a student to when I started working here the school grew a lot. When I was a student, my senior class had twenty-two people, which was a large graduating class for the time. When I started working here, we had classes of around 60 students. Over time, size was a big change, but what I liked is that even though the school was growing, that community and family feel where people knew each other remained the same. There have been a lot of changes to the campus as well. The old gym is where I had PE. It was kind of already falling apart when I was a student. When we had PE class while it was raining, we had to mop the floor before we did PE. There was the old music room where the toddler building is, and this building over here is also new (High-School Building).
AC: Staff-wise and community-wise, do you notice a difference in this transition from a smaller, more international community to the bigger school it is nowadays?
GD: It’s become more Brazilian with an international feel than international. Even though there has been this change, I appreciate that it has created more stability among our teachers. Our local teachers have chosen to be at EAC and will remain here for the foreseeable future, so there’s not as much of a change. We still have some teachers that change periodically. As a student, I never knew what my teachers would be. It wasn’t always a good surprise. The core of the staff has stayed the same, helping maintain the Giant Spirit.
AC: Can you tell us more about Giant traditions/rituals that have been part of your experience at school?
GD: Pep rallies, spirit weeks, and Brazilian culture week are traditions that started when I was a student and became part of our school. There have been some changes to it, but we used to look forward to it, which kids still do. One tradition that I miss is the Thanksgiving lunch. Instead of having Thanksgiving at night when people have to pay to come, the head of school then, Mr. Herrera, would arrive around three in the morning and cook the turkeys and the Thanksgiving lunch with the kitchen staff. Everyone would participate in a Thanksgiving assembly where he would talk about the importance of Thanksgiving, connecting us to American Culture, which I miss. Once a month, teachers would wear their EAC shirts, and kids green and yellow. We brought back this tradition this year. The morning announcements, where we share what is going on, bring everyone closer. The little traditions that we have helped build the Giant Spirit.
AC: How has the process of graduating, going to college, and working at EAC been?
GD: I thought about being a teacher when I was little, but in middle school, I decided it wasn’t for me. When I graduated from Foreign Affairs and Economics, I started doing the selection process at big companies. I hated it because it was competitive, and I felt I was fighting other people and I had to be chosen. I knew that I did not want to do that. I enjoyed the theoretical aspect of the experience, but not in practice. So then my dad said, “You always wanted to be a teacher, why don’t you go back to that?” While going through this crisis, my little sister suggested I become a substitute teacher. When I came to school and had this experience, I knew this is what I wanted to do. Since foreign affairs and economics had a lot of history, I would just have to work on the pedagogical aspect to get a teaching degree. I asked Mr. Herrera if there was a teaching spot for me while I was getting my license. Coming back to EAC as an assistant sparked my desire to become a teacher.
AC: How has your sense of the development of EAC as a community changed over the years?
GD: I think it’s part of it for people to join, to bring new ideas, but there is a common ground where we want them to feel like a part of our family, our community, to become Giants. Another aspect I like about EAC is that we consider alumni anyone who has studied here for any time, and not only those who graduated. The community has grown, but the sense of family is still present.
AC: As a member of a family that has been a part of the EAC Community for so long, how do you feel you have contributed to the Giant Spirit? And how did the Giant Spirit play a part in the development of who you are today (character)?
GD: So in my family, I’m the oldest (class of 07) of four siblings. When we arrived at EAC, we had been living abroad for many years, and it felt good to come back to Brazil and feel like EAC was home. I graduated and my dad was transferred. So we left and then my siblings started coming back to graduate from EAC as well. It became a family tradition, that we all graduated from EAC. Whenever we needed to come back somewhere, we came back to EAC. The love of the school spread to my parents. My dad was board president for a while because of his position in Goodyear. He has a huge love for EAC, and he wants to know if everything is okay. I think that contributes to why I like being here, being a Giant and wanting to keep that idea of the Giant Spirit. I just think that the values were very aligned with my family, being part of a community, something we were looking for because we had been moving around so much.
EAC PRESS 