By Maddie Jenkins
Staff Writer

Walking into Donna Kavanagh’s history classroom immediately gives off a sense of warmth and comfort. Kavanagh is approachable, sociable, and has a sense of humor paired with a touch of seriousness.

This is Kavanagh’s 29th year of teaching history at Westford Academy.

“Ms. Kavanagh is a dedicated teacher that truly cares about each of her students at Westford Academy.  She is committed to our school and she works hard every day to challenge her students in the classroom,” principal James Antonelli said.

In 1985 when she was ready for a job, she student-taught here at WA, then a job opened up, and she took it.

“I liked how Westford Academy was unique, had a comfortable environment and connections with the kids,” said Kavanagh.

She is humble when she talks about her career, even though 29 years is a major accomplishment and was a commitment.

Kavanagh loves the students at WA and finds it easy to talk to them.

“[WA] has a wonderful student body. The kids are great here. There are few discipline issues,” said Kavanagh.

Westford Academy has changed over the years according to Kavanagh.

“The building is bigger. More people moved here and now there’s around 1,450 people,” she said.

Over the 29 years, she has taught students that became teachers here. She has kept in touch with some of her students through email or their parents.

“I’ve taught Mr. Cruikshank, Mr. Poynton, and Mr. Welch who are now teachers here,” she said.

Foreign Language teacher Timothy Welch enjoyed having Kavanagh as a teacher and loved her sense of humor in the classroom.

“Ms. Kavanagh was one of my favorite teachers because she challenged us intellectually, encouraged excellent class discussion, and had a great sense of humor,” said Welch. “History came alive in her class and became so much more than pages upon pages of dates and names in my notebook.”