If you’ve found yourself wondering if two certain pit bull-owning teachers had really good chemistry, you aren’t alone. Gavin Harter and Sally Belasco, instructors of science, aren’t just dog walking buddies, but happily married since this past winter, having celebrated their first anniversary recently on Jan. 7.  

Joining The Hill School in 2021, Harter and Belasco made their stamp on the community by accumulating multiple seasons of coaching, various courses taught across the science department, and dorm parent duties in the Upper School West dormitory.  

However, before coming to Hill together, the two met back in 2015 at Dickinson College, their undergraduate alma mater.  

“I was practicing football in the fall, and she was a part of the track team, and they were doing a workout at the track, and one of my friends was like ‘oh wow look at her,’” Harter said. “I had no idea who she was until later that year.” 

The two did not formally meet until they were both a part of their school’s indoor track and field team that winter, both competing in the shot-put event. They started dating shortly thereafter and have been a large part of each other’s lives ever since.  

Having been in the year above him, Belasco graduated earlier than Harter and moved to pursue her dream of teaching and found herself at Christchurch School, a boarding school in Virginia. While Harter stayed in Pennsylvania to finish his education, their lives began pulling in opposite directions, and they realized that long distance was not something that the two wanted to continue. Belasco ended up spending a few years in Virginia, but ultimately moved back to Pennsylvania.  

“I liked it but it’s really hard to do when you don’t have friends and family close,” Belasco said on her time spent at the boarding school.  

After the two reunited, they decided to continue their story together, and the rest is pretty much history. They both found themselves applying to become teachers at a boarding school in Pottstown, Pennsylvania and became engaged shortly after.  

“We went to New Orleans, and I was pushing to go to the park. So, we got beignets and somehow without her knowing I dropped the ring into the beignet bag,” Harter said.  

With all the extra powder that accumulated at the bottom of the bag, the ring wasn’t immediately noticeable. 

“I almost threw it out,” Belasco said.  

The two are expecting a baby girl in the spring and are happy to share this experience together.  

“I’m looking forward to just figuring it out with her-working together to figure out how to raise a kid,” Harter said.  

Both being coaches, dorm parents, and role models to students, Belasco and Harter offer an ear and open arms to any of their students. 

“Recently we’ve had a lot of conversations with kids in the dorm about where they’re going to college and if they’re going to stay in a relationship,” Belasco said. “Just don’t force it. If it’s going to be, it’s going to be, and you’ll find each other again.” 

The two have grown individually over the past nine years, watching and supporting the other, whether at a distance or the classroom next door, as they find their own passions and desires for their career. If there is anything to take away from their love story it is the need to prioritize yourself.  

“Make sure you grow yourself before you try to grow with somebody,” Belasco said.