Inside the Mind of Gabe Tartaglia

It is once again time for the Paladin staff to say farewell to its senior staff members, hopefully using our legacy to continue to grow and make an impact. We wanted to continue the tradition of sending off our seniors with a final feature that highlights who they have become and who they hope to become beyond high school. 

Although senior Gabe Tartaglia joined the staff only this year, his presence was felt just the same as the rest of us. Favoring sports stories, Gabe highlighted the athletes of the school through spiffy language and a fresh perspective. Gabe is a loyal friend, an observant student, and a seemingly go-with-the-flow kind of dude, but there is much more to him than that. 

“My friends have absolutely shaped me the most. I wouldn’t be where I am and who I am without them,” Gabe said. “I feel like I’m not really introverted, but I’m not going out of my way to talk to new people. I feel like once I get more comfortable around people I’m definitely a little louder and talk more.”

Gabe grew up playing roller hockey with his dad, sparking his love for hockey and interest in sports. His tendency to write about sports came from his deep-rooted connection and fascination with the athletes. This connection will take him farther as he plans to pursue a career in sports psychology at the University of Arkansas. 

“There is this interview with this hockey athlete, Nathan MacKinnon, and he talked about how much sports psychology helped him with his performance and I thought that would be cool to do,” Gabe said. “I thought it would be cool helping people reach their full potential in sports by helping them work through mental blocks.”

I only had the pleasure of knowing Gabe just this year, but he describes his evolution from elementary and high school as consistent with the addition of a little maturity. Gabe’s perspective on school and life really changed during the pandemic when he realized we only get one shot at high school and why waste it?

“The senior class before us didn’t get all the stuff we did like prom, and then that carried over into college for them,” Gabe said. “So it was just like you only get to do this once. Why are you messing around and putting all those future events in jeopardy just because you don’t want to do an assignment.”

Having been introduced to journalism sophomore year by Mrs.Walton, Gabe jumped back into it without question when Mrs. Walton pushed him to join the newspaper this year. Although he was the only boy on the news staff, he made himself heard with his trendy ideas, ridiculously funny commentary, and insightfulness. He wants to be remembered by his teachers as someone they enjoyed teaching as he enjoyed learning from them. His willingness to jump into the unknown will take him far as he moves into the next chapter of his life.

“I don’t really know that much about Psychology right now which is part of what makes it so interesting. I’ll be learning something new all the time. Sports have always brought me together with people whether it be my dad or my friends, even my sister’s been getting into watching hockey with me recently,” Gabe said. “Overall, I just want to be remembered in a positive way.”