Andrea Pickersgill is a new Spanish teacher at Westford Academy and recently the Ghostwriter had the chance to get to know her.

Q – So how’s this year going so far?

A – So far I think it’s going well, very busy.

Q – What made you want to become a Spanish teacher?

A – To be honest, I loved Spanish in high school it was my favorite class, and when I want to college I had a double major and I took a Spanish class as one of my majors and I didn’t even know I wanted to be a spanish teacher at that point. I just loved Spanish and then I had an opportunity to go abroad, so I was able to go to Madrid and live with a family and took some classes at the university. But it was pretty awesome, I really really fell in love with it, but still wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do. So my other degree was in psychology and I was debating whether I should go onto the counseling route, or if I should become a teacher. So then what I did was I got a job out of college at a private school to teach Spanish and thought I’d give it a try and I really liked it. But then I changed my mind, so it’s kind of  this crazy route, and then I went into a  graduate program in counseling but I was still working in schools because I moved to California and there was a lot of Spanish speakers, so they needed my help in the schools for the students that were struggling with English. So I worked with that population and decided that I wanted to be a teacher. And then I went back and got my teacher certificated ended up being a teacher.

Q – What made you decide on WA being the school you want to work at?

A – Well I live in westford and I’ve been mostly home raising children for the twelve years that I’ve been here. And my children go to Westford schools and we chose Westford because the school system was so good, so we lived here on purpose. I had been doing some private teaching and I worked doing tutoring for all of these years. And then a couple of years ago I had a chance to cover a fraternity league and I did twelve weeks and I really loved it. I loved the staff, I loved the kids I love the community here and so I was sold. And then when an opportunity came this year I was definitely happy to take advantage.

Q – What makes you passionate about teaching?

A – Well again, I just love the language and I really want other kids to have the opportunity to explore and be able to get the sense that learning another language and culture can be a really great thing to have in their lives.

Q – Now other than teachings do you have any other ideas outside of school?

A – I do, I love tennis, I coach Soccer but now for WA, I coach for Westford youth soccer I ve actually been involved with it for many many years, I do a lot of volunteer work and I’m also a Girl Scout leader.

Q – Do you recommend anything for incoming freshman>
A- It’s definitely a big transition from 8th grade to 9th and it can be overwhelming but just keep an open mind and everything will go well.