For Gaby, putting students first is very close to her heart. Gaby Ruiz, a math fellow coordinator at MLK Jr. Early College, is running the Colfax Marathon for the second year in a row. Both years she has chosen to run for the DPS Foundation to raise awareness and to make an impact via her fundraising efforts. Gaby takes her fundraising goal very seriously as she feels it is a way to help others give back to Denver sColfax_runners_Tierra 003tudents, even if they are not able to run.

Last year, Gaby met her fundraising goal and this year has almost doubled her fundraising goal in an effort to make even more of an impact. On her first day of setting up her fundraising page via the DPS Foundation’s website, Gaby had already raised $250, bringing her halfway to her fundraising goal.

Being able to relate to many DPS students is something that Gaby treasures. It is quite clear that Gaby is passionate about DPS and that being part of Team DPS is so much more than a job to her. When she moved to Denver from Los Angeles, California and started working for DPS eight years ago, she immediately felt that she fit right in with the culture of DPS. She shared that she can communicate well with students who might have less affluent backgrounds because she grew up in a tough neighborhood. Gaby lives by example for the students. She said, “As a minority, you can still make it. My dreams have come true and so can yours.” She chooses to dedicate her time, fundraising and running capabilities to the DPS Foundation in support of students. Gaby says, “I love running but running for students makes it so much more rewarding.”

According to Gaby, it really is pretty simple. “All students deserve the best education, and by doing this we can be part of the impact… this experience is rewarding for both me and my sponsors because they’ll know they’re fundraising for something that really matters. It is rewarding for them because they know they’ve supported me as well as children and education.”

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Gaby training for the big race!

As an active fundraiser, Gaby says it has been easy to fundraise and get the word out about her run for DPS students. She used the template language provided by the DPS Foundation when she signed up and then adjusted it to make it more personal and shared what DPS means to her. She then shared it out on her Facebook page, emailed old and current coworkers, and family and friends. Soon, Gaby said she had donations coming in from her DPS team members and even old friends from high school!

She added that emailing DPS staff on the Denver Math Fellow team and the MLK Jr. Early College team was really helpful because it is a way for those who do not run to get involved. In an effort to increase her fundraising donations as much as possible, Gaby says she simply re-shares her original Facebook post every other week so that new people who might have missed her previous post can see it. Really, re-sharing your Facebook post is too easy NOT to do, and Gaby said she “just posts as much as I can to get the word out!”

“Colfax marathon is a really fun run!” A couple other members of the Denver Fellow Math team will be running the race to support DPS as well. Gaby says, “It’s exciting because there are so many people there from DPS. My family will be there to support me, and it is just a great event for the entire Denver community.”

Won’t you join us in running the Colfax Marathon this year in support of DPS students? Join us here and learn what you can do to support.