Not many grown-ups turn to high school sports for a dramatic change in scenery, but that’s exactly what new special education teacher Frankie Gallo did. Before her career at CHS, she started teaching at Oakton High School, later signing up to coach the school’s basketball team.

“I wanted to do something that was completely out of my comfort zone,” Gallo said. “I had no basketball experience. I approached the head coach of the program and he knew that I had no experience, but he gave me a chance and he said I could [coach] freshman girls.”

As she begins teaching at CHS, Gallo’s year-long tenure as an assistant basketball coach at Oakton will go down as a distinct change, but to her, it was business as usual. Having been in seven different schools, she prides herself on her versatility and the desire to try new things.

“I would describe myself as very adaptable,” Gallo said. “[I’ve] learned a lot about who I was as an educator, my strengths, my weaknesses. Allowing [myself] to go from school to school gave me that opportunity to also meet a variety of colleagues from all walks of life.”

Gallo has worked at several schools – Manassas Park Elementary School, Oakton High School, Valley Elementary School, Centerville High School and Katherine Johnson Middle School – as a special education teacher.

“I tutored a high schooler then who had autism,” Gallo said. “He was the one who gave me the inspiration to go into special education.”

Losses throughout the season makes her coaching career not quite as successful as her teaching has been, but Gallo feels a valuable experience was gained all the same.

“I learned a lot,” Gallo said. “But mainly what I enjoyed coming out from that experience was being with the girls, having that spirit and having that willingness to do well in every game – that was pretty inspiring.”