Marcus Figueroa – late shift, 2:30 to 11 pm

   For Figueroa, working at Gabrielino is a family tradition. His mother, Lisa Leon, used to work in the front office, and he graduated from Gabrielino in 2010. Since October 2023, he has been working as a custodian in the upper B Building with hopes to spend the rest of his career here.

   “I like my coworkers,” Figueroa said. “The rest of the custodial staff has been really great, a lot of teaching staff has been really accepting of me coming in, the administration staff has been really friendly and helpful, accommodating. The family life here at Gabrielino is very nice.”

   While Figueroa echoes the other custodians’ sentiment about the “depressing” nature of the school bathrooms, he is driven by seeing students enjoy the campus afterschool. Every day, he aims to clean his rooms as efficiently and effectively as he can so he has time to respond to calls.

   “I’m trying to get quicker at cleaning the rooms,” he explained. “Vacuuming and sweeping and mopping, just getting quicker at that, getting better at that. Making sure that everything’s nice and shiny.”