McNamara Focuses on Senior Year

McNamara+Focuses+on+Senior+Year

October 30, 2018

By:  Riley McNamara ’22

Casey McNamara is a senior here at Westborough High School and has been a part of this community her whole life. She has been enjoying her senior year, just as she hoped.

She cites the first day parade tradition as a highlight because she has always watched the previous senior classes have their spotlight and finally,  it was her turn.

McNamara is a  student-athlete and during the fall she plays soccer. This year she is the captain of soccer and has been on varsity since sophomore year. From her experience with other captains, she has attained many tips in being a good leader and role model for the team. She has learned that she has a lot of responsibility in leading her team.

As the program continues, when she looks back on soccer, she will love knowing that she made an impact on it. The team has started off the season with a bang:  their record is 6-2-2.

McNamara exclaims, “We are really excited to see what the future of the program holds.”

Her plans for college is to either attend University of Connecticut or University of Maryland, if she is accepted.

“They are bigger schools but you have the ability to make them a lot smaller by finding your community within,” remarks McNamara.

As a three season athlete, she likes bigger schools that have big sports programs to be able to support her team and go to games.

McNamara got a kick start on her applications during the summer because she knew it would be very stressful to balance school work, sports, and college applications.

She is planning to major in biology, a more general major, because she doesn’t know what she is going to do exactly. With this as her major, she can explore many different jobs that have to do with biology.  

She first fell in love with science in the seventh grade with Mrs. Greenwald’s enthusiastic and lively class. The science department here at Westborough High has been a great influence, with having Mrs. D’Onofrio freshman year, Dr. Deshpande for two years and also having Mr. Fontaine. Dr. Deshpande reassured her love for biology and chemistry and Mr. Fontaine taught her so much about the human body that she didn’t even know was possible.

Since she has submitted 10 out of her 13 applications so far, she has some advice for the future seniors doing their applications.

McNamara admits, “The SATs definitely stink, they are the worst part of it.”

The SATs drain a lot of energy from students, first from all the preparation it takes all the way to sitting in a room for four hours using all brain power to try and perform the best of your ability. A recommendation that McNamara has for all students is to take time out of the summer to dedicate to college work.

Doing work over the

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“Bond with your teachers because in the end they are the most intelligent people you will meet.”

— Casey McNamara

summer allows for putting your main focus on just one thing when nothing else is needed to be done. Waiting until the last minute can get really stressful, but since McNamara nearly finished everything, she can put her focus towards senior year.

From her four years and the many teachers, she says that it is hard to pick her favorite, but she has enjoyed being in Mr. Fontaine’s and Mr. Richards’ class.

McNamara has done better in classes where she creates a bond and connection with a teacher.

She remarks, “Bond with your teachers because in the end they are the most intelligent people you will meet.”

Her favorite class this year is Film in Literature with Ms. Smith. The class is pretty laid back because they get to watch movies and then write essays about what they watched. She says that Ms. Smith is an awesome teacher that makes the class fun.

McNamara has been involved with many programs throughout high school and she says her favorite has to be Beekeeping club, which is run by Mr. Fontaine and Dr. Ryan. The perks of being a part of this club is that honey is handed out at the end of the season and there is so much to learn about bees from this opportunity.

In addition to being a beekeeper, in her free time she likes to chill out on the couch and watch tv. She is a big netflix and hulu girl and some of her favorite shows include:  The Office, Life in Pieces, Parks and Recreation, Grey’s Anatomy, and really any sitcom shows. She has basically watched everything so if you are in need of tv recommendations, McNamara is the person to talk to.

McNamara has seven months before she finishes her career here at WHS; and although it will be sad to leave family and friends, she is going to start a new journey.