Kempsville’s Bostonite

Gabriel Wetmore may be a Boston Native, but he claims Virginia Beach as his forever home

Cara Lenon, Staff Writer

Some may know Gabriel Wetmore.

Some may know that he is an AP U.S. history teacher, that he has kids–two daughters by the name of Emerysn and Charlotte–and that he showcases an upbeat personality.

However, some perhaps less common knowledge about Wetmore would be how he’s from Boston- the seaside city that houses an infamous Ivy league school, Harvard, or how long he’s been teaching at Kempsville, six years, or even how long he’s been teaching in general, 22 years.

Those other 16 years were spent at Silverado High School in Las Vegas for 7 years, Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake for five years, and the rest of the years prior to Kempsville were spent at what is known as the Renaissance Academy.

Mr. Wetmore has attended three Universities: Tufts University in Massachusetts, University of Nevada in Las Vegas, and Old Dominion University in Norfolk. Though originally intending on obtaining a Civil Engineering Degree, Wetmore found the work and rewards unfulfilling.

“Freshman year of college I spent all my time struggling through Calculus and Physics classes that I did not particularly enjoy, earning grades that I did not particularly enjoy either,” Wetmore said.

But then Wetmore discovered his passion for teaching through taking General Education courses- required by many colleges to take regardless of selected majors and minors.

These courses included Science and History that Wetmore “absolutely loved.”

Though his interest in history had always been there since many of his “memorable” teachers from when he was growing up, were history teachers that left an impression on young Wetmore, making him in awe about what he’d learned.

And so Wetmore became a teacher; however, it wasn’t until his third year teaching that he thought about teaching AP classes.

It started when a colleague came to him to inform him that he was retiring soon, and so asked Wetmore if he was interested in teaching AP classes. Wetmore said “yes” and soon went into the process of becoming an AP teacher, and eventually becoming one.

Wetmore’s favorite food is “medium rare steak and key lime pie for dessert.”

In his free time, Wetmore cares for his two daughters and enjoys running. Though ever since the kids came about, he hasn’t managed to be as avid as a runner as he once was, having used to run half marathons, he now runs 5ks, “often while pushing a stroller.”

In the summer, Wetmore mentions that he often travels, either to new, different places or to familiar places where his family lives.