Greg Gonzalez enjoys hiking and snapped this selfie while on a hiking trip last summer during the COVID-19 lockdown.

By Tim Ashley
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Sooner or later, the path a person hopes to take in life is shut off, at least temporarily, and a detour is necessary. As Greg Gonzalez put it, “I am no stranger to them (detours).”

Now a network administrator for Warsaw Community Schools, while attending Purdue University he had originally intended to graduate and then join the Army. But in his first semester his plans changed when his father passed away. “I decided to jump the gun and join after it was over,” he said, and instead joined the Army after only one semester at Purdue.

Born and raised in LaPorte, Gonzalez graduated from LaPorte High School in 2010. He joined the active duty Army in 2011 and spent four years at his duty station of Fort Stewart, Ga.

During that time he was deployed to Afghanistan in 2011-2012. After his four year stint in the Army, he worked in a furniture warehouse and also as an environmental services engineer at the Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo, Mich., while waiting for his application to finish with the LaPorte County Sheriff’s Office.

Eventually that application was approved and “I spent two and a half years serving the public,” as a sheriff’s deputy, he said.

But then another one of those detours occurred and he decided to make a career change. “I thought a career in law enforcement was going to be it for me, however during my time there the workload started to wear me down and it hurt my soul dealing with some of the cases,” he said, speaking candidly.

Even though he made a career change, he chose a field he always had an interest in — computers. Gonzalez went to a vocational college in Indianapolis known as MyComputerCareer in 2017 for a 10-month course in system administration and networking. While attending the course, he started working for Shelbyville Central Schools. After graduating, he joined Western Governors University for a virtual systems administration degree and is currently wrapping up his second year.

This past summer, he also signed up for an online course at Harvard University for computer science and programming which just ended last month. Along the way, beginning Dec. 9, 2019, Gonzalez started as network administrator for Warsaw Community Schools.

Generally he manages the financial package software and servers the school district uses. “I manage the digital textbooks for students and staff and I assist in other areas ranging from normal phone support, iPad work, Powerschool and any networking involved in those processes or special projects,” he said.

COVID-19 created a demand for online learning, he noted. “It took a lot of work for the tech department to implement everything during the summer, but we were able to get everything up and running for the start of school,” he said.

Gonzalez said he enjoys working for the school system and “supporting great educators that are shaping the next generations.”

With any free time he has, he likes to hike and-or bike. During the warmer months he enjoys playing disc golf and also likes to sample craft beers at local breweries. He also at times will play the piano and ukulele, though, he said, his biggest passion is gardening.

“I love to talk about gardening,” he added.

He is also involved with the Veterans Treatment Court and mentors veterans who have active legal cases for minor drug or alcohol related charges. He also actively participates in a foreign exchange student program as a coordinator who connects families with foreign exchange students and manages their stay during the school year.

“I have also taken the opportunity to host a few students myself and it is a blast,” he noted.

Divorced, he has three daughters: Minuet, Allegra and Melody.