Mrs. Donna Gallegos

Donna Gallegos is in her 25th year teaching at St. Charles. She is currently the K-8 art teacher, PE teacher and school Athletic Director. She has been a part of the catholic school system in Albuquerque since she was a child. She is an alumni of Our Lady of Assumption and graduated from St. Pius in 1984. Throughout her time in the catholic schools she participated in many extracurricular activities. At Assumption she played basketball, softball and track and was part of an undefeated basketball team her final year. At St. Pius she continued her love of sports playing with the top ranked basketball team all 4 years and earning All State honors. Academically she participated in Science Fairs qualifying for Regionals each year.

Throughout all these activities Mrs. Gallegos had a love for the arts. Since she was a small girl she loved to draw, paint and sculpt. She continued to develop that love in high school by taking art classes and designing sets for her high school plays. Whenever she could she would visit art museums and participate in art shows. Her art teacher at St. Pius, Ms. Campbell was a large influence in developing her skills and love for the arts.  Inspired by Ms. Campbell, she decided that she wanted to spread her love for the arts to the youth by becoming a teacher. She took classes in both physical education and art education eventually graduating with high honors receiving a Bachelors of Arts in Education and a Level II teaching license. She graduated with a studio focus in Japanese Porcelain.

Her love for art and sports continued after high school into college. Knee injuries kept her from playing college sports so she played on intramural teams in basketball and softball. She also found a new sport to enjoy in road cycling.

Mrs. Gallegos had the rare opportunity during her 20's to live a year abroad in Germany. She spent that year seeing many of the world's great art pieces such as the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo's David. She also spent that time touring the country on her road bike.

After returning from Europe she married her college sweetheart Alex Gallegos. They have three sons Tommy, William and Patrick all of which went to St. Charles. All of her boys have found careers in the arts as adults working in photography, animation, film editing and writing.

Mrs. Gallegos starting teaching at St. Charles in 1994. When she started that year there was no art program so she worked as a kindergarten aid. The next year she convinced the principal to hire her as an art teacher for K-5. There was no room available so Mrs. Gallegos would roll down the halls with her art cart visiting each room. The students would get excited when they heard her cart clattering down the halls coming to visit them. A few years later a new principal found Mrs. Gallegos an art room where she could really develop the art program at St. Charles. Over the years she has been able to bring her love of the arts into the lives of thousands of children. Her phrase, "There are no mistakes in art, only new ideas", is her driving philosophy encouraging students to create freely without fear or hesitation. In her own work she is always trying new art forms. Over the years she has explored and worked in many art forms. Including multiple drawing techniques, scratchboard, hand building in clay, quilling, jewelry making and is currently trying quilting.

Although the arts is Mrs. Gallegos primary passion she has never lost her love of sports. She has been a coach at St. Charles since her first year. In those years she has coached all levels of girls and boys basketball, softball and track. Leading her teams to undefeated seasons and championship trophies. Sports has been a driving force throughout her life and has taught her many life lessons. Lessons in hard work, teamwork, perseverance, how to win and fail. Lessons she hopes to pass onto her players. As the physical education teacher and Athletic Director she is in a position help the students learn these lessons. She continues to ride her road bike cross country challenging herself to ride longer distances including a 50 mile ride last year. She is always looking for new physical challenges. At 50 she trained and participated in a triathlon.

In her 25 years at St. Charles Mrs. Gallegos has been honored with many awards including Teacher of the Year, Catholic Award for Teaching from the Catholic Foundation and a Golden Apple Nomination. Mrs. Gallegos continues to work on improving and developing the art program that she started at St Charles and give students the opportunity to express themselves through the arts. As the physical education teacher and Athletic Director she hopes to encourage students to find a way to be physically active and healthy.