Former Novato High Teacher Makes Cut on Handyman Reality Show

Past students at might remember a young teacher who taught woodshop — a rarity for a woman. Shoot, high schools with woodshop classes are so rare that it’s not offered anymore at the school.

That young teacher was Allison Oropallo, who spent 2007 to 2010 on the Hornet campus. Anybody who follows reality TV and loves carpentry or home improvement might know Oropallo from her ongoing appearances on HGTV’s All American Handyman.

“I’ve been following her progress because she’s been texting me as a reminder,” said Principal Rey Mayoral of Novato High. “It’s pretty exciting to have somebody you’ve worked with on national TV. … Everyone’s on the bandwagon here. It’s almost like watching a soap opera.”

Oropallo, reached Tuesday in the Boston area, where she lives and teaches now, can’t reveal how the show ends up. It was taped in April in New York City, but she’s sworn to secrecy. But she’s not keeping a secret about how much fun it was.

“It was the best time I ever had,” she said. “It was also the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but probably the most rewarding. I love competition.”

Last week was a rough one on the show for Oropallo, who placed as one of the bottom four contestants. In the end, she pulled through and just missed elimination, now as one of the show’s eight remaining contestants.

“For some reason I thought I knew what I was doing,” said Oropallo after a stair-making challenge on last Sunday’s show.

“It was my first time feeling what it was like to be in the bottom,” she added. “I was like, ‘Please don’t let me go home today.’”

Oropallo and was of 3,000 contestants nationwide. In the show, the 20 contestants were taken to the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York, where they were given tools and a project to build. They were timed and their projects were later scrutinized by two judges.

“The hardest thing was working really long days,” she said. “I think we had a couple of 22-hour days. And there’s those crazy short time limits to do every project. You don’t have much time to think. It’s all instinct.”

Oropallo said she learned from her father as well as a teacher at Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, N.H., where she went to boarding school. “I was obsessed with my shop classes there,” she said.

Oropallo, who grew up in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., now lives in Stoneham, Mass, and teaches engineering and technology at Ottoson Middle School. She teaches technology and engineering, where she takes math and science and puts it into hands-on learning. She also has coached a Legos robotics team.

Although Novato High no longer has a shop class, Oropallo said she will always remember her three years there teaching woodshop, architecture and engineering classes.

“My fondest memory is probably the kids at school,” she said. “I loved the kids. They were awesome. They were tough kids; I taught mostly boys. Once I got their respect, I loved teaching them and I think they had a good time.”

All American Handyman airs at 9 p.m. Sundays on HGTV. To vote for Oropallo as a fan favorite, visit her bio page on HGTV.com.

— Stoneham (Mass.) Patch editor Pedro Oliveira Jr. contributed to this report.