In April 2023, we celebrated the retirement of two long-serving staff members, Luis Manzano and Jesús Gascón. Many former staff members returned to campus to celebrate with them. 

Luis Manzano

Luis started working at the American School of Barcelona when he was only 16 years old and retired after 47 years of service in the Business Office. When he first started, Luis would work in the afternoons at Plaza Eusebio Güell on the Pedralbes campus until he finished his studies. During this time, he remembers working with Ms. Trini, a former Spanish teacher who also started her career in the Business Office. He would help her prepare stencils for the old projectors, manually input student enrollment, and keep the family files. 

After a short break in the early 80s to complete his military service, Luis returned to ASB, where he was ever more involved in the Business Office until he was formally promoted to the position of school Administrator by the Director, Ms. Elsa Lamb, in the early 90s. Some of his best memories are from the early days when, he says, “the school felt like a big family with just 45 staff members and roughly 200 students." 

Luis recalls the time he worked at the beautiful building in La Font del Lleó from 1979 to 1985. During these years, he married and had a son, Lluis Manzano Jr., who attended ASB from 1998 to 2014. Eventually, in the mid-80s, ASB moved to its current campus in Esplugues de Llobregat, with just one building that was fondly nicknamed the “shoebox” due to its rectangular shape. 

After so many years, Luis says, “ASB feels like family to me. The school has grown, and I have grown with it.” He shares, “It is heartwarming to see parents I have known since they were PK-3 students, now bringing their own children to ASB” and mentions names such as Enrique Pallarés, current ASB parent and alumni from the Class of 1995, who he coached and chaperoned to a soccer tournament in Turin. 

ASB is a wonderful community of like-minded people, and Luis mentions he will miss this the most. Some of his most special memories are with Jose Calahorra (Senior), Tomás Garballo, Jesús Gascón, Mark Smith, Steve Bartlett, Mr. Paterson, the kitchen staff, Julia Carbonell, his own team, and especially Alicia, who he was proudly responsible for hiring.

Looking back, Luis can be proud of his accomplishments. He helped to develop the Business Office as we know it today and was crucial in much of the transition that led us to the school we know today. 

ASB is grateful to Luis for his years of service and wishes to recognize his role in developing a successful department in the Business Office which has been key to ensuring ASB’s growth. We wish him a very happy retirement!

Jesús Gascón

Jesús worked in our maintenance department at the school for 25 years, starting in 1998 alongside Tomás in the Facilities Team. At the time, ASB only had the main building, which was smaller without the high school extension or the green kindergarten at that time. 

ASB has grown so much that the facilities team is now made up of six people. Back in the early days, Jesús ran the school maintenance by himself. “We were all helping to build ASB, so we did things that were not exactly within our job description.” 

Jesús is most proud of the connections he made here at ASB and is grateful for the years shared with the people that make up our community. He has several fond memories of helping the Parent’s Association put up decorations for special events with Ms. Nula from ECC and Silvia Pagès, a current ASB parent and alumna from the Class of 1986. 

When asking colleagues, many will say he was stubborn, hard-working, meticulous, but most of all, funny. He loved joking with people to the point you wouldn’t know whether he was serious or just teasing. 

ASB is grateful to Jesús for his years of service and wishes to recognize his work to make our school building a safe space for our children and staff that is conducive to learning. We wish him also a very happy retirement!

Watch an Instagram Reel of their farewell gathering with former and current staff HERE!