By Tim Delouchrey
Sports Liason
Westford Academy added several teachers this year, including Biology instructor Paralee King. King teaches standard biology, as well as marine biology.
King has lived in Massachusetts for ten years and has taught for all of them.
“I was originally a stay at home mom, and I home schooled my kids,” said King.
This year marks her first experience as at teacher in the Westford Public School system. She made the transition to the area for her husband. The Kings live in Princeton, and he was commuting to the Westford area every day. To make the commute more bearable, she searched the area for a teaching job and landed one in Westford, so they now commute together.
King has moved all over the place during her life. She was originally raised in Michigan and then attended Trinity College, a small liberal arts school in Texas.
“It wasn’t really until this past summer that I started to think of Massachusetts as my home,” said King.
King’s home in Massachusetts is not your typical house. On the first day of school, King had her students guess if she lived in a tree house or a hobbit hole. The answer was the latter.
“I live in an underground house,” said King. “There’s a few sky lights and the front of the house is largely window, so it’s not that dark.”
King enjoys living in her home, but pointed out it was mostly her husband’s idea.
“My husband’s a weirdo, he likes weird things. We’ve lived in many other weird houses,” said King, explaining why her family lives in such an unusual abode.
King was hired this summer by a committee of teachers and administrators.
“She’s very kid-friendly, and has a project based approach to the class that we liked,” said science teacher Rosemary Manning. “She also has degrees in biology and chemistry which is very unique.”
The students have acknowledged her kid-friendly quality, as they feel very comfortable having her as a teacher.
“She’s very approachable,” said senior Kay McNeil.
King is looking forward to her time here at WA. She says she thoroughly enjoys her job as a teacher.
“I love science. I’m pretty passionate about it and I want the students to at least appreciate it. Even if they aren’t going to be scientists I would like them to at least use the skills they learn in science to help them with other problems in their life. It’s kind of the same thing with art. It’s about being a whole person,” said King.
