By Prachi Patel
Mrs. Goodliffe is a guidance counselor at Westborough High School. Born in Boston Massachusetts, Mrs. Goodliffe has been a member of the WHS community for 18 years now, and shares that her experience has been amazing.
Before attending Assumption College in Worcester to earn her undergraduate degree, she finished high school in Connecticut. She continued her journey to Boston College to earn her master’s degree. Then she got married and made her way back to Westborough.
Mrs. Goodliffe started teaching in the WHS school to work program for three years, after which she was hired as a guidance counselor at WHS. She spent her first year as an intern, and has been a guidance counselor ever since. Goodliffe remarks, “I knew I wanted to go into the helping professions. I thought about nursing, I thought about different things to be. But, being a guidance counselor was the best fit. I love the high school age group and working with them.”
Even though there are multiple guidance counselors in the building, Mrs. Goodliffe states that she has a lot of students, which makes it hard for both her and the student to manage a time without taking out any class time. But at the same time she also comments that making connections with the students, and leading them to what they want to do is the best part of her job.
Guidance counselors play an extremely important role to shape the students’ lives and have a huge impact on the school community. Mrs. Goodliffe explains the role of the guidance counselor is to “help students on whatever path they choose, whether it’s on college, career, work, and guide in making decisions along the way.”
She also runs a club called New Student Ambassadors to help the new student in the community make their way through making new friends, and getting them settled into Westborough.
All this effort, hardwork and success comes from her family who is her main inspiration. Being married, having a family and liking her job are some of her major life accomplishments. She also owns a house on Cape Cod where she likes to spend her spare time after work. She also likes to spend time with her new puppy, Cooper.
