Photos by: Blue Banner Photography
East Elementary School honored retiring superintendent Dr. Dorothy 'Dot' Galo at its May monthly All School Meeting. Hingham's Officer Walden drove Dr. Galo to and from the event in his police cruiser which created quite an entrance for the students to enjoy. As students entered the gymnasium, each Kindergartener presented Dr. Galo with a single flower to create two beautiful bouquets of flowers for Dr. Galo to take home, in addition to the boutonnière she wore.
Staff and children were dressed in formal attire to celebrate the annual wedding of the letters Q & U. (for those of you unfamiliar with this Hingham tradition, each year the letters Q and U have a formal wedding to help teach the Kindergarten students that Q and U will be together forever) This year, Dr. Galo was the honorary officiant of the ceremony.
Kindergarteners kicked off the nuptials with a performance of the song, 'Every Book has a Cover.' After Q and U exchanged their vows with resounding 'I do's' from the crowd, student representatives from each grade read pages from the book, 'How Many Dots at East Elementary,' that the East School Community had published for Dr. Galo. First Grader, Longkhang Dang, also rolled out his number scroll for her to display the over 16,000 numbers he's recorded throughout the year.
Principal Tony Keady then presented Dr. Galo with a plaque that will hang in the Dr. Dorothy H. Galo Library at East. It reads, 'This library is named in honor of Dr. Dorothy H. Galo for 56 years of dedicated service to the students of the Hingham Public Schools as teacher, administrator and tireless advocate.' A standing ovation from the entire school community followed.
The ceremony ended with Dr. Galo speaking about her children attending East, the history of some of the HPS buildings and her background as a math teacher in the Hingham Public Schools. She shared her gratitude that the plaque will always show that she started off as a teacher in addition to the other roles she's held in HPS.
The last stop on Dr. Galo's retirement tour will be on June 5th at the Hingham Middle School Cafeteria from 2-6PM. All are invited to attend this open retirement celebration!
Where is the video so we can hear the children read and sing ???
I knew and respected Dr Galo’s contributions to the Hingham PS during the first half of her 56 years of service. I am confident that the second half has been equally outstanding. Thank you, Dot, and best wishes for retirement.