In Profile
Home for good Former principal finds freedom in return to the classroom
Cory Hare
Managing Editor, ATA Magazine
YOU’RE NINE YEARS OLD. It’s Halloween. You decide, without even considering other options, to dress up as a union soldier from the U.S. civil war. After all, you already have a historically accurate uniform, which you painstakingly assembled over the course of many months, and this is your chance to wear it. If that paragraph describes you, you just might be destined to teach high school social studies, which proved to be the case for Ben Galeski, a social studies and English teacher at St. Joseph’s Collegiate in Brooks. Looking back on his childhood in Bragg Creek, Galeski remembers many costume-fueled manifestations of what has turned out to be a lifelong love of history. “I was always fascinated by ... the story of history and what people had to go through,” Galeski says. “It was really my passion about the subject, the history, being able to spend my days immersed in it, that led me into education.” Galeski’s interest in history encompasses pretty much anything that has ever happened in any part of the world, whether it be whaling, the conquista- dors, South America or the Pacific War, but there is one historic event that holds special significance for him: the Franklin Expedition, a British sailing party that set out in 1845 to find a northwest passage through the Arctic. Both of the ships disappeared, remaining undiscovered for decades, and all 129 crew members perished.
It was his passion for this event that Galeski drew upon when he was a nervous student teacher preparing to deliver his first solo lesson. Tapping into his in-depth knowledge of the event’s minutiae and mystery, Galeski spun a yarn that had students on the edge of their seats. “I remember little light bulbs going off above their heads,” he says. “That was kind of like a drug.” FROM THRIVING TEACHER TO STRESSED OUT PRINCIPAL That first lesson galvanized Galeski’s resolve that teaching was the right path for him. He spent the first five years of his teaching career at a private Catholic school in Calgary before moving to St. Joseph’s. Three years later, his career took a turn. The school had an opening for a vice-principal and Galeski was asked to apply. “I was honored … it seemed like good career advancement,” he says. “I think I was the only person who applied, so I got the job.” Galeski’s six years as vice-principal were de- manding but also impactful, mainly because he was working under a principal whom he describes as transformational. “It was stressful to be a vice-principal, but because I got to work with her, it was worth it,” he says. After that principal moved on to division office, Galeski took over the principal’s chair. The fit was
ATA Magazine Fall 2025
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THE ALBERTA TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION
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