WOODBURY — Ever since Gabby Guerra could walk, she’s had a stick in her hand and a passion for agriculture in her heart.
But how does she handle academics, agriculture, and athletics all at once?
The senior at Nonnewaug High School will be attending Delaware Valley University, a Division III school, to pursue both her lacrosse and agricultural desires.
“In high school, it’s easy,” Guerra says. “I’ve been doing it for so long, since kindergarten, always growing up and doing sports and school at the same time, so I’m kinda like a master at it. I kinda just like to go to practice and then get my work done after and stuff.”
Guerra, who makes balancing a heavy schedule look like light work, explains her life growing up and how she became the lacrosse player she is today. She practices three or four times a week with a couple of games per week during the fall and spring and does conditioning throughout the year, especially in the winter.
“I’ve just always enjoyed it and never even thought about not wanting to play,” Guerra says. “I played for the Pomperaug Lacrosse League from first grade to eighth grade, Litchfield Hills my sophomore year, Nor’Easter Lacrosse Club from eighth grade to my junior year, and Northwest United with NHS junior and senior year.”
With Guerra’s demanding yet unclear schedule with sports and classes next year, she’s prepares for her new life and a new beginning.
“I’m really just going with the flow because I don’t really know how it’s going to all fall in place yet,” Guerra said about her college expectations. “I don’t really even know what classes I’m taking [in college] because of the ag program and AP classes … so I still need to figure that part out.”
Nonnewaug senior Kaitlyn Boyce, who has been playing with Guerra since sophomore year, sees Guerra’s competitive nature as an asset to the lacrosse team, which seeks to improve in its second year as a co-op program with Litchfield and Thomaston.
“I think she helps the team play better because of how competitive she is, so I think she will do really well at the college level,” Boyce says. “I’m hoping we win more than two games this year and that as a team we enjoy playing and we play every game to the best we can.”
But Guerra’s life revolves around more than just athletics. The multitasker also contributes to Nonnewaug’s agriscience program in many ways.
Kathleen Gorman, a NHS agriscience teacher, seems to be amazed by Guerra every time she says something new. Guerra’s hard work in the classroom always leaves an impression.
“In the classroom, she’s a little goofball and she knows it,” Gorman says. “She always gets her work done [and] she’s an excellent student, but she also knows how to have fun in the room, and she also knows how to distract the class and be like, ‘Oh, look at this shiny object.’ In terms of working with our education farm and our animals and everything, she’s done a great job working one-on-one with our heifer this year and taking her in and out every day. She makes the choice to come back every sixth period before she leaves for the day because she has early [dismissal] and brings the cow in for me. I trust it’s being done right and it’s being done efficiently.”
Guerra loves agriculture because of the animals — one type in particular.
“The cows: I like them, they taste good, and they are fun to be around,” Guerra says. “I’ve always enjoyed working with them from sophomore year to now. I’ve never really had a bad experience.”
Guerra’s role is her agricultural side of life gives her a unique perspective inside the classroom and out. Guerra puts in the work while making it fun.
“Because we’re fortunate enough to have a smaller class, the whole class maintains like a family environment, and Gabby’s role is really like the third child,” says Gorman. “She’s the type of person who will take risks and she will try something new, and if it’s something she doesn’t know how to do, she’s like, ‘Alright, I don’t know how to do it, but let’s go figure it out.’ She has a fearlessness and she has a desire to learn that really benefits our class.”
Guerra says she will have no problem balancing athletics and academics with agriculture in the future.
“It’s a breeze,” Guerra says. “In college, I don’t think it will be much different [than high school] because it’s only animal-related stuff and science stuff, which I’m pretty good at, so any classes that I miss I can easily make up for.”
Gorman admires Guerra for all she does in the classroom.
“She’s really been one of my right hands,” Gorman says. “Like an octopus, I have a lot of great students, but Gabby’s been one of those students I can trust. [I] know she’s coming and know she remembers. She just got it done, and we move forward and that has been a great asset to our program and it’s been a great asset to our class and it’s been wonderful to see her grow into that senior from a freshman.”
Guerra has many interests in the agriculture world, but she has narrowed her college selection down to working with beef cattle in animal science and livestock.
“I came into the [Nonnewaug agriscience] program wanting to be a vet,” Guerra says. “Sophomore year I took vet science, horse management, and ag production. After [that], I completely gave up on wanting to be a vet, and now I’m going to college to work with beef cattle for the rest of my life. I’m going for an animal science, livestock management bachelors of science, and I’m going to have my own beef cattle operation.”
