Arts & Entertainment
Stoneham Woman Vying For HGTV's "All American Handyman" Title
Allison Oropallo will be competing against 19 other contests on HGTV's "All American Handyman" to see who is the handiest of them all.
As Allison Oropallo was surfing the Internet last month, she saw an HGTV ad on Craigslist that was seeking energetic people who had experience with tools. There couldn't have been a more perfect match.
Oropallo and her mother made a trip down to Philadelphia in time for the March 12 casting audition. After a few weeks passed by, Oropallo figured she wasn't going to make the cut. However, HGTV eventually notified Oropallo that she'd be on the show "All American Handyman," competing for 10 days in New York City starting April 9.
She will be competing against 19 other contestants on "All American Handyman," which is hosted by Molly Culver. The purpose of the show is to find the country's best handyman. The winner will receive the title, a $10,000 Sears prize package and an HGTV development deal.
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“My father is the biggest influence in my life. He taught me all there was to know about handy work, never assuming I couldn’t do something because I was a girl,” said Oropallo.
Oropallo is a technology education teacher at the Ottoson Middle School in Arlington and her Principal Tim Ruggiere praises her work.
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“We are lucky to have Allison with us and we are also very proud of her. Her arrival at could not have come at a better time,” Ruggiere said. “It has been nice to be able to inject the school with a renewed excitement and vigor in the technology department.”
Oropallo has been a role model for her female students and is helping them work in the "Women in Engineering" program.
The Stoneham resident graduated from Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, N.H. She studied applied technology education (K-12) from The College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y. Oropallo also received her Master’s in curriculum and instruction from SUNY, Plattsburg.
Oropallo cannot stress enough how her dad exposed her to the occupation she loves. He showed her how to build different objects as well as building her a workbench when she was six years-old. Now, Oropallo will be competing on a very on a TV show and she knows who to thank when she gets home.
