In room 310, one of Gateway’s most recognizable faces resides. Whether you’ve seen him chatting in the 300 wing before morning meeting, working out in the gym, or even his face stickered on random objects, you’ve probably met Mr. Abed.
Born on August 4th local to Pennsylvania, Mr. Abed—along with his brother—decided to stay local to the area, enjoying the tristate culture. Perhaps it was the cheesesteaks—his favorite food—that made him stick around in South Jersey.
Despite being a math teacher, he didn’t start out with this plan—majoring in engineering—but adopted it as he found a love for teaching and helping others, demonstrating the care that he holds for his students. He says:
As well as being a key member of Gateway’s math department, Mr. Abed is an accomplished coach, currently coaching girl’s basketball and tennis. In 2015, he even received the honor of South Jersey Times Coach of the Year for his prowess.
Mr. Abed can rarely be seen in his downtime without the presence of his friends, Mr. McGowan and Mr. D’Alessandro [Mr. D], but these friends aren’t equal. When asked whether he’d save the life of Mr. D or Mr. McGowan, he initially responded with Mr. D, saying, “You gotta go Mr. D. Absolutely.”
This was not in fact absolute as Mr. Abed called me out of my 1st period class to change his answer to: “He [Mr. McGowan] brings too much joy to this world, how could you ever take that away?”
This change of heart shocked Mr. McGowan, leading him to say the choice was “a terrible mistake.” Despite his apparent good intentions of spreading joy, Mr. D reveals the more malicious reasons: “We already have an agreement; when I die he gets my Jordans,” a statement to which Mr. Abed quickly agreed.
As the school year closes, Mr. Abed leaves his students with some final advice: to “always be happy” and to reflect on “if every person that got in here [the world] made it a little bit better, how much better would the whole world be?”
