Gabriel Martinez: Cape marketing teacher brings high energy to class

With this year's Cape High yearbook put to bed and sent to press, Gabriel Martinez still has the energy of someone just off vacation.
"I come to work every day smiling," he said.

Part of it is the students, part is the supportive administration, and part is the fact that he loves his job.

Martinez was hired to teach marketing and business, and serve as yearbook advisor and for DECA – an organization focusing on marketing and business skills.

This year is his first putting together a yearbook – and the first time for all his students, too – but he was thrilled with the experience.
"It's kind of hard when everyone is a rookie, but it came out good," he said.

With a Snapchat-inspired cover, the yearbook will be passed out in early June. Their work done, the yearbook staff is in a bit of a lull as they wait on a new company to send them the software they will use to put together next year's yearbook.

Still, Martinez is a whirr of energy as he goes about the class. Since he was a kid, he said, he's had that type of energy – the kind that convinced his mother to put on a catcher's mitt to catch his fastball, and that served him well on the track and football fields.

He looks like he's still in his 20s, but after hearing a rundown of his life experiences, it's something only someone much older could have accomplished.

Martinez was born in Panama and came to the United States with his mother when he was 6. She had married a military man, and the family was stationed in several states before settling down in Anne Arundel County, Md. He graduated from Glen Burnie High School in 1996 with work experience beyond his years. His intense work ethic turned an internship with Westinghouse Electric Supply Co. into a junior account management position before he graduated from high school.

But after graduation, he headed into the Army, where he was a fire support specialist stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. He seems relieved that his service occurred in a time of peace so he wasn't stationed in a war zone.

After leaving the Army, he returned to the business world working for a customs broker in Baltimore. He also joined the National Guard. Then 9/11 happened. He was deployed to northern Virginia for work at military installations that required his security clearance.

Martinez said his time in the Army and in the business world made him realize one thing: he liked teaching. As a staff sergeant in the Army, he spent time instructing infantrymen. In his day job, he was always the one asked to help out new hirees and teach them the ropes.

"I spent some time in the industry and realized I didn't like office work as much as others do," he said. "But I always enjoyed teaching people things. One day it dawned on me. It was when I was dating my future wife, and she was a teacher."

With enough money in savings, Martinez enrolled full time at University of Maryland Eastern Shore. He and his wife, Chrissy, married in 2008, and he finished a four-year degree in two years. His energy – and his 10-year age gap with most college students – helped him stay focused and take 18 to 24 credits a semester. His stellar grades and ambition eventually earned him full tuition. "A lot of it was sheer drive. I wanted it a lot more," he said.

He graduated with a business and education degree – a unique degree offered by UMES which attracted him to the school. Teaching degree in hand, Martinez headed to Easton Middle School for a year and then took a job closer to home at Delmar Middle. He was a reduction-in-force casualty at Delmar, but he quickly rebounded with an accounting teaching position at Wicomico High School.

Now with two daughters – Alayna was born in 2010 and Julianna 2013 – the couple bought a house in 2015 in Millsboro. When Martinez saw a job posting at Cape High, he said, he saw an opportunity to work close to their new home. "I knew it was a good school district and decided to give it a try."

And he's glad he did.

Martinez said he still can't believe how well his students did at the Delaware DECA – seven students qualified for international competition in Anaheim, Calif. "It was a great week. It's the top high school students, and it's nice to see how they approach things," he said.

Another bonus was a trip to Disneyland – the same day Johnny Depp made a guest appearance on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. "We were there, but we didn't know he was there. At least I still spent a day at Disney," he said with a chuckle.
Never one to stand still, Martinez is continuing his education with a master's degree in administration from Wilmington University. And in typical fashion, he'll do it in record time.

"My wife thinks I'm taking on too much," Martinez said. "It goes back to I know what I want to do, and I don't want to dawdle."