Columbus' Jack of All Trades
by Eason Brohee
Walking past Mr. Gabriel De Tuya’s classroom at Christopher Columbus High School, you never quite know what you might hear. One moment, he could be discussing religion. The next, students might be practicing their debate arguments, learning a jiu-jitsu technique or listening to him play a tune on his guitar.
Now, he is also the man behind a collection of trading cards featuring some of the school’s most familiar faces. However, the cards are only the latest addition to a much longer list of ways De Tuya has integrated himself into the Columbus community.
For De Tuya, these different roles have created opportunities to connect with students he might never have met otherwise.
“Students that I would have never had in class, I got to know over the three, four years they trained jiu-jitsu. That was amazing. Same thing goes for debate,” he said.
His impact at Columbus goes beyond what students learn in the classroom. It comes from the relationships he builds and the various ways he finds to become part of students’ lives. That same instinct to bring people together helped spark Collecting Columbus for Walk-a-thon, the school's annual fundraiser.
“It started out as a little bit of a random idea that snowballed into a much bigger thing. So we had our theme for World Cup… we said, yeah, we should make those into cards. And it became a huge, huge thing," De Tuya said.
What began as a creative idea for the school’s World Cup theme quickly grew into something much larger. Teachers were transformed into country representatives, their pictures became trading cards, and students began collecting, signing, and trading them. De Tuya described how the project evolved beyond his initial expectations.
“I personally don't really collect cards. This has changed my outlook on all of that," he said.
Seeing students search for their favorite teachers, get cards signed and trade duplicates to complete their collections made him want to be part of that excitement himself. What began as a project to represent countries turned into something that connected students with teachers in a new way. For the students, the idea seemed to fit De Tuya perfectly.
“So we found out De Tuya had the idea and then it all made sense, he’s definitely the kind of guy who would come up with that," said junior Raymond Izquierdo.
The collection eventually expanded beyond current teachers. With the introduction of a legend series, alumni could participate, connecting current students with the individuals who helped shape Columbus before them.
There may never be a single title that encapsulates everything De Tuya contributes to Columbus. Teacher, coach, mentor, musician, and now card creator—each role reveals another side of a person who continues to find new ways to connect with students.
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