Students usher into Lauren Gabay’s classroom and are met with a cozy and comfortable environment filled with welcoming decorations and lights. Upon entering, they sit down while Gabay explains her lesson plan for the day. She walks around, handing each student a copy of the novel they will be reading and discussing in class, enthusiastically detailing what it is about in the process.

Gabay is a new English teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Gabay grew up in Coral Springs, Florida and attended college at the University of Florida. At UF, she did not originally plan on becoming a teacher but instead intended on going on the pre-med track. However, this major proved to be too stressful and she ultimately decided to give teaching a try.

This change of careers, although abrupt, led Gabay to discover her love of teaching, making her glad that she chose to switch when she did. Not only did she love working with and helping students, but she also loved the fact that it proved to be fun as opposed to stressful.

Before coming to work at MSD, Gabay had taught at Spanish River High School in Boca Raton.

Gabay describes her teaching style as direct yet fun in the hopes that it motivates her students to learn. She has put much effort into making her classroom a positive atmosphere in which students can engage with her lessons and perform well in the course.

“I try to be fun in the class and I try to have fun with the kids in the classroom and yet be fair,” Gabay said.

Her attempts at making her classroom a cheerful place are reflected in her decorations, which are all whimsical and amusing. These decorations include the forest wallpaper and the fairy lights she has scattered across her classroom.

Gabay cares greatly about her students’ ability to learn all of the information they can. Using different media is just one of the many ways through which she accomplishes this. For instance, she incorporates videos into her teaching to help stimulate students minds and give them a new and interesting means to learn English.

Expressing care for her students’ futures, Gabay believes in and sees great potential in all of her students. She wants the best for them and does everything in her power to help them succeed.

“I wanted to help students learn in a way that they can understand and help their future, especially in college,” Gabay said.

Gabay is very grateful for the opportunity to work at MSD and loves that she gets to have an impact on her students’ lives. She is glad that she gets to play a small role in helping her students become everything she believes they can be.

“I think that MSD is a great school with bright kids who have a great future ahead of them and I’m glad to be a part of that,” Gabay said.

One thing that has made Gabay enthusiastic about working at MSD is that she has an identical twin, Jacquelene Lieberman, who is also a teacher. This relationship and the other wonderful teachers she has met at MSD have proven to be a significant reason as to why she has found teaching here to be so pleasurable thus far.

“I’m excited to be a part of a wonderful school and faculty, where so many great things are happening,” Lauren Gabay said.

Fortunately, Gabay cares for not only her students’ wellbeings at present but also in the future and wants to help them in any way that she can. Therefore, she has made it her goal to try and prepare her students for college and beyond to the best of her abilities and she looks forward to seeing what this year at MSD has in store for her.