Gabriela Isolabella
Head of Department - Mathematics
Meet Gabriela Isolabella, the multicultural, multilingual head of Hastings Girls’ maths department. Gabriela moved from Uruguay to New Zealand in 2009. She took the opportunity to step out of her fast paced academic role as Professor of Mathematics at a prestigious School of Medicine in Uruguay to spend some years at home with her children, first in Gisborne and later here in Hawke’s Bay.
She brings with her a wealth of knowledge about teaching mathematics, having published multiple articles in international journals on her research in raising the standard of high school mathematics to align with university level work. Initially intending to stay only five years, she and her whanau fell in love with the New Zealand lifestyle, countryside, culture and people and have made this their home.
She fed her love of teaching initially by privately tutoring mathematics and her first language, Spanish, while her children were at school, before moving to high school teaching once they had finished.
She loves the diversity of cultures here at Hastings Girls’ and the respect and rich learning environment provided both in her relationships with the staff, and with the girls, who she views as the soul of the school.
