This year saw the reveal of Oakton’s new cafeteria and while this is exciting, it’s not the only new thing at Oakton. Here’s an introduction to some of Oakton’s newest staff members.

Miss. Birnie

Miss Birnie has joined the Oakton HS staff as a ninth-grade English teacher. Originally from Pittsburgh, she finished grad school and taught as a student teacher for a year before moving to Virginia. Miss Birnie’s favorite part of being a teacher is being able to do something new every day and see new faces. There isn’t much Miss Birnie doesn’t love about teaching, but she definitely prefers teaching to grading. She enjoys teaching ninth grade, but in the future, she says she might consider branching out to other grades or teaching elective classes. Her favorite place in the world is Australia where she once went skydiving despite being scared of heights. 

Overall, Miss Birnie wants to keep growing as a teacher. She would like to explore the use of technology in the classroom more, especially since this year, FCPS introduced the one- on- one policy with laptops, making digital media more accessible than ever to students.

Ms. Post

Ms. Post is a new art teacher here at Oakton. She attended school in Fairfax County and was on her school’s swim team; she also danced when she was younger. Before becoming a teacher, Ms. Post worked at the Smithsonian with design and production. After about eight years working at museums, she decided to “go back to school” as a teacher. Ms. Post wants her students to feel like her class is a reprieve from their other classes, especially since Oakton is such a competitive school. Outside of school, Ms. Post enjoys painting and going out in nature to take walks and hikes. She also enjoys cooking and gardening. Unsurprisingly, her favorite thing to do around the area is visiting museums because they are free. An interesting skill that she has is that she can do a front handspring, but not a cartwheel.