By Anastasha Echavarri
News Editor
After fourteen years, guidance counselor Betsy Murphy decided step down from her position as guidance counselor to become the new dean for Westford Academy after former assistant principal Adam Goldberg left at the end of last year. Starting off her fifteenth year at WA, Murphy has taken on a whole new set of students and responsibilities.
Before she became interim dean, Murphy worked with fifty students from each grade. Now she’ll be working with the sophomore class, part of the freshman class, and writing recommendations for her sixty-four seniors she’s been with for the past four years.
In addition to this, Murphy’s also in charge of student activities as well as disciplining students and working alongside principal Jim Antonelli, dean Robert Ware, and dean Michael Parent.
“I feel like I have 1700 students rather than 200,” said Murphy.
Before teaching, Murphy tried a bunch of different jobs in order to find what she really wanted to do. She worked in a private sector, a large corporation, and even her own business.
“I was working in a town with a youth group in the evening, and I realized I was enjoying what I was doing then more than what I did during the day, so I went back to school and got my masters degree. I realized what I really want to do is work with students,” said Murphy.
From then on, Murphy has been a guidance counselor and has loved every minute of it. She intended on being a counselor indefinitely because she enjoys working with the students and the faculty at WA, but she is also excited about the prospects of trying something new.
“I really wanted to challenge myself more going into my fifteenth year at WA. I get to see how the opening of school is playing out. It just doesn’t happen overnight. I’ve been here for a long time so I know a lot of what the school does, but now I’m even more involved with what goes on,” said Murphy.
With sixty-four senior recommendations to write, student activities to organize, the duties as one of the senior class advisors, as well as the management of the sophomore class and part of freshman class, there is no doubt that Murphy will be busy with her old duties and her new set of responsibilities. However, Murphy is excited to see how the year turns out and couldn’t imagine working anywhere else.
“I love working with the students. There’s a lot of energy at this school and I think it’s a great school,” said Murphy.
