New SCHS teacher, Shari Giacomini loves spending time outdoors with her family. Whether it’s gardening, hiking or touring California, they love it all. She also has a soft spot for traveling internationally. One of Giacomini’s favorite places to visit is El Salvador.

“I frequently visited El Salvador and had friends with whom I would visit,” Giacomini said. “Beautiful country and amazing food. I have also traveled to Italy, where my family is from. I enjoyed seeing where my family migrated from and visiting with family that live there.”

Giacomini grew up in San Martin and attended high school in San Jose. She earned her bachelor’s degree in political science and history from UC Berkeley and a master’s in Educational Leadership from National University. Giacomini later earned her teaching credential in hopes of helping her community.

Giacomini has been in education for 15 years and was an elementary and middle school teacher for 12. For the past three years, Giacomini has been an SCUSD special education administrator.

“I am currently a Program Specialist that supports special education programming at the district level,” Giacomini said. “I work with sites to support programming and placement.”

Recently, Giacomini has been hired as a special education teacher at SCHS. She explained that teaching is something she is very excited to pursue again.

“I’m happy to join this team,” Giacomini said. “I’m happy to work with high schoolers even though I haven’t done it before, so it will be a learning curve for me, but I’m happy about it.”

Giacomini said she chooses opportunities where she can best share her knowledge and be happy. She believes she has found that match in teaching and student support.

“I love this field. I’m very passionate about it,” Giacomini said. “It’s a very rewarding career.”