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Water-loving Wellington High School graduate Dr. Jennifer Galindo once had dreams of living on a boat and studying sharks. Now, amid the stables, equine stables and green practice fields that stretch along Lake Worth Road, she’s planning to preserve and improve one of Palm Beach County’s top schools — Polo Park Middle School — under a new principal.
Galindo was named to the post in July after eight years as principal at Grassy Water Elementary School.
“I’m really excited to be back in Wellington. I remember when Polo Park was built. It was state of the art… and I think it still is. It’s exciting to be a part of that,” she says.
As Palm Beach County Public Schools opened Wednesday, Aug. 10 for the 2022-23 school year, Galindo got her first chance this week to see the halls filled with 79 teachers, 40-plus support staff and nearly 1,200 students.
Born in Good Samaritan Medical Center, Galindo grew up in Royal Palm Beach and attended HL Johnson Elementary School and Crestwood Middle School.
After graduating from WHS in 1997 and heading to the University of Florida, she realized that neither marine biology nor public relations were for her. Therefore, she returned to the so-called “family business” – education. Her mother, Barbara Terembes, was a longtime teacher, assistant principal and administrator in the Palm Beach County School District.
After six weeks in Gainesville, Galindo switched her major to elementary education, focusing on middle grades four through six. At UF, even freshmen go to schools, and that was all it took for Galindo to know she made the right choice.
“I fell in love with the class and never looked back,” she said. “My time [Alachua County schools] I see really poor students and super rich administrations. I think it helped me to have a better perspective on both.
Galindo spent the first 18 months of her teaching career at Delray Beach Village Academy, where she taught fourth and fifth grades before working at Wellington Elementary School for six years. In the year In 2008, she took over as assistant principal at Gracie Waters and became principal in 2014.
Along the way, Galindo earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UF, a degree in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern, and a doctorate in educational/organizational leadership from the American College of Education.
“When I started, I thought I’d be in the classroom forever. “I loved seeing my students progress,” she recalls, but by going into school administration, she “realized that I could impact all students, not just the ones in front of me.” And all the teachers. The whole school.
The main impact Galindo hopes to make at Polo Park is to strengthen the already well-regarded school academically, particularly in STEM-related fields — science, technology, engineering and math — with an emphasis on information technology and engineering.
Pre-engineering magnet courses offered at Polo Park include environmental science, green building and architecture, and aerospace technology. For those interested in IT, magnet courses include coding and exploring computer basics and IT careers.
Over the past several years, Polo Park’s Cyberstalkers robotics teams have been successful in many state, national and even international competitions, Galindo said.
Self-described as “very tech-savvy,” when the job opened up at Polo Park, the school’s focus on computing and IT, the fit seemed too good to pass up. So she applied.
Galindo is also proud that the Stallins baseball team won the county middle school baseball championship last year, and she hopes to see that kind of success spread to the school’s other sports, such as basketball, soccer, softball, volleyball and track.
Her role as principal, Galindo said, is to allow faculty and staff to do their jobs and be creative with as little distraction as possible.
“I want to go into a classroom and see what works and then take that to other classrooms,” she explains.
And what clearly works, Galindo said, is technology.
The demands of distance and blended learning during Covid-19 have forced some teachers to make the leap into the 21st century. “It was hard for some. But they had to learn to be tech savvy,” she said. “It also created more collaboration between senior teachers and younger teachers. New partnerships. It brought people together.”
Although Galindo continues to make her home in Royal Palm Beach, through her years as a student and later teacher in Wellington, she feels she knows the needs of the community well.
“Teachers feel a high level of support from parents here… [but] There is certainly an expectation of excellence,” she said. “It’s not a society that lends itself to mediocrity. I know I’m expected to maintain that level of excellence.”
This is a lot of pressure, and it can be difficult. Galindo says the ocean is still her escape — often on Florida’s west coast with her husband Herbie, son Logan (12) and daughter Alison (16) and following in her grandmother’s and mother’s footsteps to teach.
Galindo still hopes to swim with sharks one day, but for now running with the stallion is a challenge.
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