By: Ethan Gaffney
My time here at Westborough High School has taught me many things about myself and life. Through all my experiences I can truly say that Westborough High School has affected me and has been an essential part of who I am today.
I will always remember my first day of high school. As an already scared freshman, the worst that can happen is going to the wrong first period class on your first day. On my schedule it said that Mr. Nofsinger’s room was on the first floor. I ended up going to his learning center room instead of the classroom on the third floor that he used for his first period freshman History class. I was immediately frightened and worried that Mr. Nofsinger was going to yell at me in the front of the entire class. After finally figuring out where his room was, embarrassment set in my face as I opened his door. What surprised me the most is that he wasn’t mad or angry like I’d speculated in my freshman brain. He gave me a big smile and hello; he couldn’t have been more welcoming.
Throughout that year he showed me many qualities such as being nice to people, abeing grateful, and knowing that family means everything. But what I will always remember is “repetition, repetition, repetition.” That if you want to succeed in something you need to have a tremendous work ethic and the ability to practice something over and over again. I want to thank Mr. Nofsinger for being such a gracious and kind person and a role model to me during freshman year and the years after.
Another person who has shaped me is Mr. Brown. Like Mr. Nofsinger, I had Mr. Brown during my freshman year and I also had him my senior year. Mr. Brown’s ability to connect to his students is something that I will never forget. He influenced me in many ways and made English class a lot more exciting. Because I have always excelled in English (unlike math), I enjoyed Mr. Brown’s class a lot. But what I will always appreciate from Mr. Brown is his ability to push me further in my writing and my analysis. He has inspired me and because of that has made me a better writer and I will always be thankful for that. Because of his charismatic and intellectual lessons, I know that he has inspired me to major in English and Secondary Education at Keene State next year.
Because sports has always been an important thing in my life I would like to thank my coaches and teammates in soccer, track, and basketball. All my coaches and teammates have inspired me to be not only be the best player and worker I can be, but also the best role model and leader I can be. But specifically I would like to thank my varsity basketball coach Coach Willard. My senior year basketball season has been everything I could ever wish for. Our team had a 14-6 record, beating Central Mass ranked teams such as Marlborough, Sutton, and state runner up Nashoba. We won back to back Auburn tournaments and at the end of the season, made it to the prestigious Clark Tournament and ended up being the underdogs and making it to the championship game against Bartlett. Because Coach Willard had faith in me to play and lead our sophomore heavy basketball team, he gave me a very memorable senior season.
What I’m mostly grateful for though is when he gave me the opportunity to start on senior night in our last home game against Fitchburg. I ended up having the game of my life scoring 11 points in the first quarter. But what meant more to me was sharing the spotlight with my fellow senior teammates, beginning the game on a dominate 19-2 run. I ended up scoring a career high, but more importantly won the game in front of our fans in our last home game of the season, and for the seniors, the last home game of our lives. Games like this one and many more memories are what I will always remember about my high school basketball career. And I can thank no one other than Coach Willard for always pushing me and making me the best player I could possibly be. He put me in situations where I could succeed and lead our basketball team.
Westborough High School has been everything to me. If I had the chance I wouldn’t do anything over because I am who I am today because of my experiences at WHS. Although I may be ready to move on to the next chapter in my life, I will always miss WHS and the people there who have influenced me every day. This isn’t “Goodbye forever” but “See you later” WHS. Thanks again for everything
– – – Ethan Gaffney Class of 2017
