Fallon has been a place of learning and fun-filled classes for 20 years. I asked some of the teachers who have been a part of this journey to tell me their stories.
Lorrin Harris, known to students as Miss Harris, has been teaching at Fallon for 15 years.
“I helped open the school—I was one of the founding teachers back in 2005,” Miss Harris recalls. “At that time, our campus was a K-8 school. The classroom I’m in now wasn’t even a classroom back then. The four classrooms along the outside of Building A hadn’t been used yet. Building B housed the kindergarten students, while the middle schoolers were on the opposite side of campus, in buildings E through J.”
She shares some unique differences between then and now: “The Multi-Purpose room hadn’t been built yet, and the blue lunch tables were scattered around the circle in front of the grassy area by the library. The spot where the Q portables now stand used to be a grassy field where the kids played football.”
Miss Harris also fondly remembers some lighter moments from those early days: “I didn’t have a screen on my window, so I would open it and kids would come up and say, ‘We’d like a hamburger, french fries, and a chocolate milkshake, please.’ They treated it like a drive-thru!”
However, it wasn’t always lighthearted. Miss Harris recalls a significant incident: “One night, a bunch of us teachers went to a Warriors basketball game. On the way back, we saw fire trucks and found out that the Multi-Purpose room had exploded. The green roof was blown off with such force that it cracked windows in houses on the nearby hill.”
Miss Harris had some crazy stories about when Fallon first opened! But she’s not the only longtime teacher. Mr. Zarcone has been here for years, too; he has had some pretty good experiences.
Mr. Zarcone has been teaching at Fallon for 19 years—almost since the school opened 20 years ago. He says, “I’ve been here almost from the beginning, and I love it.”
When asked why he stayed so long, he explains, “The kids are amazing, and I get to teach a variety of classes—PE, English, history, and electives. I just love the atmosphere here.”
Teaching wasn’t his first plan. “I was a business major and worked in sales,” he says. “But I wanted a job I enjoyed and could make a difference in. Teaching fits all three.”
He taught kindergarten for 6 months before moving to middle school. “They asked me to teach kindergarten, and I wasn’t sure I could do it,” he says. “But when they promised I could move to middle school, I said okay.”
With all his experience, Mr. Zarcone says he knows how to motivate middle schoolers. “If students enjoy coming to class and respect you, they’ll work hard and learn,” he says.
When asked what advice he’d give new teachers, he says, “Challenge your students and build good relationships, so they want to come to class every day.”
He still enjoys teaching after all these years. “I look forward to Mondays and coming back to work,” he says.
Some of his favorite memories include coaching the first undefeated basketball team and leading the Fallon Christian Club on field trips and community service projects. “There are so many great moments,” he says.
While Mr. Zarcone has been inspiring students for nearly two decades, Fallon’s science department has its own star—Ms. Chien. We talked with her next to learn about her journey as a science teacher and what she loves most about Fallon.
Ms. Chien has been a teacher at Fallon since the school first opened in 2005. That means she’s been here for 20 years!
When Fallon first opened, everything was brand new. Ms. Chien said the classrooms were really nice. They had big windows that let in sunlight, and the whole school felt clean and modern. “The sunlight made the classroom feel happy and open,” she said.
She liked the school so much that she chose to work here rather than at another school. “I really liked the way Fallon was designed,” she said.
At the beginning, Fallon didn’t have all the technology it has now. Classrooms used projectors, but the sunlight made it hard to see the screen. Some teachers even had to cover the windows with black paper.
Fallon was also much smaller back then. There were fewer than 500 students, and everyone had a locker. Most students had come from Wells Middle School, so Fallon felt new for everyone.
There was no Google Classroom or Canvas when Fallon opened. Students turned in paper homework, and sometimes they would say they had even though they didn’t. Later, teachers started using notebooks to keep track. Now, everything is online and much easier to manage.
When asked why she stayed at Fallon for so long, Ms. Chien said, “I really enjoy the campus, the people I work with, and the students.”
Ms. Chien has seen Fallon go through many changes over the last twenty years,
and she still loves working here and being part of the Fallon community.
Teachers aren’t the only ones who’ve helped shape the school. Principal Baligaya has also played a big part in making Fallon what it is today. She’s been a strong leader and someone students and staff can count on. Here’s what she had to say about her time at Fallon:
Ms. Baligaya has been part of Fallon for 18 years. She taught math at the school for 9 years, working with students from sixth grade through Algebra 1 in junior high. After that, she served as an assistant principal for 6 years before becoming principal 3 years ago.
Ms. Baligaya stayed at Fallon because she values the community, enjoys working with the staff, and likes the students. She even joked that she’s “Fallon Forever,” because of her strong connection to the school.
Mrs. Baligaya originally planned to become an accountant, but after some experience in college, she realized teaching was a better fit. She has mainly taught math, but has taught seventh-grade English.
Her most memorable year was her first year teaching in 2004. She had a good relationship with her students and remembers it as clear as day.
Ms. Harris, Mr. Zarcone, Ms. Chien, and Ms. Baligaya have all been at Fallon for a long time. They’ve watched the school go through many changes—new classrooms, new technology, and new ways to teach. Even with all those changes, they stayed because they care about the students and the school community. Their stories show that it takes a lot of work and dedication to keep Fallon a great place to learn.
