MOULTRIE — Gabe Galarza, a senior at Colquitt County High School, is on a pretty tight schedule during the week, splitting his time between going to school, working out, going to church and working at the Colquitt County Arts Center.

“Pretty much my life revolves around those things right now,” he said.

Galarza was born in Kissimmee, Fla., and then lived in Hialeah, Fla., near Miami, until 2000 when his family moved to Funston. He and his family, which includes an older sister, now live in Moultrie.

He said the choice was made to move to this area after a visit to his uncle who was living here.

“I was just dragged along I guess. It’s all right, I’m okay with it,” he said laughing.

He said his mother loved the way there were trees lining the roads because it reminded her of Cuba, where she and his father are from. He said his mother grew up on a farm in the woods of Cuba and his grandfather and some of his relatives still live there today. He has more family who live in Florida.

“They were one of the first ones (of his family) who came to the United States,” he said of his parents.

He said he has made a couple of visits to Cuba in the past to the farm that his relatives own and said they were still growing different varieties of fruit.

“But if you really think about it, you don’t own it,” he said.

He said the government could come in and decide to move a doctor into a home and relocate the current residents somewhere else because everything is “communal.”

“Communism,” he said.

He said most of the country lives in poverty and when he visited with what he considered very little money, he still had a lot of money by Cuban standards.

“We do our best to send money and help get them out of the poverty,” he said.

His mother is a teller at Southwest Georgia Bank and his father works, from home, translating documents.

Galarza credits his parents and way they raised him for how he carries himself. He said he’s really close with his family.