wellington | schools
HELPING STUDENTS CHANGE THE WORLD Palm Beach Central High School’s Darren Edgecomb Keeps His Eye On The Next Generation STORY BY DEBORAH WELKY | PHOTOS BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN
Palm Beach Central High School became the second public high school serving Wellington when it opened in August 2003 on the north side of Forest Hill Blvd. at Lyons Road. For the past eight years, the principal has been Darren Edgecomb, a longtime Palm Beach County educator. Having graduated from Belle Glade High School in the top five percent of his class and fresh from the University of Florida with a degree in business, Edgecomb took a job as assistant manager of the same grocery store that he had worked at as a teenager. Except this time, he was the one hiring teenagers — as cashiers, bagboys and stock crew.The year was 1987. “I knew their parents and older siblings, and it was pretty cool talking to kids — who were doing the same things I used to do — about interviewing techniques and the management side of things,” Edgecomb recalled. “Then one day, Mr. Antoine Russell came into the shop. He was an educa-
Principal Darren Edgecomb stands in front of Palm Beach Central High School, home of the Broncos.
tor, and he was about to become the principal of a new alternative school, School of Choice, opening up in Pahokee. He saw how I enjoyed teaching the teens, and he suggested I transition into teaching. He was my mentor.” Although School of Choice was late in opening due to construction delays, Edgecomb was eager to begin his teaching career. “I began subbing at Rosenwald Elementary School in South Bay, work-
ing with seven-year-olds and wondering what I had gotten myself into. But I loved it and, when School of Choice finally opened, I took a job there, teaching math to grades 6 through 12. Eight years later, I tried to spread my wings,” Edgecomb said. “I had been fortunate enough to have just been selected as Math Teacher of the Year for Secondary Education, and that made me feel as if could take more of a risk, move out of my comfort zone.” wellington the magazine | march 2022
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