By Sabrina Goebel

Sciene teacher Mr. Fontaine, well known among many students, has been teaching at Westborough High School for almost seventeen years. After attending college at UMASS Amherst Mr. Fontaine wanted to be a teacher but decided to pursue a different path in physical therapy. For many years he worked as a physical therapist specializing in sports medicine and spinal rehabilitation.

When a teaching spot opened up at Westborough High School, Mr. Fontaine took the opportunity to become a teacher like he had wanted for years. In the beginning, he used to teach many types of science classes other than just anatomy, but anatomy is his favorite class to teach because of how closely it relates to his previous occupation.

Throughout many years of teaching, his favorite teaching moment is when he had his older daughter, who is now a sophomore in college, in his anatomy class. He recalled it as “an incredible experience” being able to take his knowledge and teach it to his own daughter. However there were many awkward, yet, funny moments when his daughter didn’t know whether to call him “dad” or “Mr. Fontaine”. The class decided that it was more normal for her to just call him dad. He also has another daughter who is a sophomore at WHS who he is excited to have in his class next year.

Outside of teaching, Mr. Fontaine has many unique things he likes to do. Many people aren’t aware of this hobby, but Mr. Fontaine is a firearm’s instructor on the weekends and teaches firearms safety classes.

Mr. Fontaine also has a loving Border Collie dog named Zoey that him and his wife like to train throughout the week. Twice a week Mr. Fontaine will take his dog to camp where she is trained extensively in different agility tricks and plays with other dogs.

Lastly, when asked what he would be doing if he didn’t choose this path as a teacher, he gave a surprising response saying that he probably would have been a classical guitarist. When he was deciding to leave physical therapy he kept the possibility of pursuing classical guitar in his head because he had taken lessons for many years and he really loved it.

Among teaching, being a firearms instructor, teaching his dog agility tricks every week, and almost pursuing classical guitar it’s no wonder Mr. Fontaine is a student favorite here at Westborough High School.