[KHTS] – The Santa Clarita Post Office is installing a new postmaster April 11 at the Valencia office, according to officials with the United States Postal Service.

Gabriel Magdaleno, 29, of Valencia, said he was “honored” to have the new USPS responsibility at what he acknowledged was relatively young age for his position.

Magdaleno applied for his first Post Office job while he was still in high school.

He accepted a position as a letter carrier in Van Nuys after graduation at age 19 in 2003, and the job quickly became a career. He moved into management in 2007, attributing his quick rise to “ambition and dedication.”

“My (reason for choosing the Post Office) was the opportunity,” Magdaleno said. “My upbringing with my family was to find myself a career in an organization you can be proud of.”

Magdaleno was inspired by his grandfather, who worked for a General Motors plant in Van Nuys for many years before it was closed. “That was his mentorship of me — to find an organization you can grow with,” he said, “and I felt the postal service had those opportunities.”

He mentioned being inspired by a management program he undertook last year, which was offered by the U.S. Post Office offers, which brought Magdaleno to Washington D.C., and gave him a chance to meet executives from the national office.

“Seeing what the organization had to offer gave me more ambition to get to that level,” he said, discussing his goals within the organization.

And while he described the opportunity, he also knows there are challenges facing the U.S. Postal Service, which has been faced with cuts recently due to declining revenues.

“These are exciting times for the Postal Service as we face unprecedented change and financial challenge,” Magdaleno said. “We must reduce our costs and operate as efficiently as possible, while at the same time maintain high service levels.”

Magdaleno oversees 267 employees providing service to over 97,000 addresses on 144 delivery routes, serving approximately 205,000 residents and more than 6,000 businesses in an area encompassing over 62 square miles.

Before his current appointment, Magdaleno served as officer-in-charge in Burbank. On April 11, Magdaleno is set to formally take the oath of office at 1 p.m. at 24355 Creekside Road.