By Jennifer Da Silva ’21

You might have Ms. Junker for English or may want to participate in her upcoming rugby club. Ms. Junker went to Roger Williams University where she started off as a creative writing major, but when her roommate inspired her to go into secondary education, she fell in love with teaching teens.

In her teenage years at Algonquin, Ms. Junker was a member of the cheerleading team until her senior year because of a thumb injury. During this stage in her life, she dreamed of being a writer. Junker’s mom advised her to go into teaching because she questioned the availability of careers in writing, but Junker ignored her. When looking back to those times, she says realizes that her mom was right all along! She realized her mom was right the semester after she switched majors. She says, “I decided to switch majors after my first education class, which my roommate encouraged her to sign up for.” Ms. Junker realized her mom was right after she taught her first lesson on identifying character traits within characters. She was nervous for that first lesson but after she started talking and working with the students it felt natural.  

Ms. Junker always thought she was going to be teaching younger kids because of her experience from working at a daycare. Miss Junker always have loved working with kids; for example, she used to babysit, work as a camp counselor and at a daycare, and tutor.

Ms. Junker student-taught in Rhode Island before she came to Westborough High School. She says she has been really loving it so far. She comments that her students and faculty have been very kind and loving and that she is happy to be apart of a program where everyone seems happy to be where they are. Something she says she hopes to accomplish is being able to make students feel welcomed and safe in her classroom because she understands that some kids in the high school are trying to find out their true identity. A professional achievement that she is proud of is being able to have kids feel comfortable enough that they come to talk to her about anything. Junker states that her motivation is the students in her classroom. She aims to continually improve her communication skills.  

When Ms. Junker isn’t grading papers, she loves to hang out with family. Junker has two cats and one dog that she loves very much. Junker’s mom is her hero because “she is so strong and powerful will do anything it takes to get what she wants to be done.”

Ms. Junker not only hopes that her students succeed inside the classroom but also in other aspects of life. In terms of rugby, this year Ms. Junker wants to generate some interest in a potential club as well as getting certified to coach. Ms. Junker thinks that within the next couple of years, an official club could be started where kids can learn the rules and form new friendships. Ms. Junker believes that a person can learn a lot about oneself when you join a sports team, so she hopes that students would be able to experience personal growth from the sport in addition to making new friends and exercising.  

Westborough High is lucky to have a teacher like Ms. Juker that steps into teaching students with a positive attitude, motivation, and kindness in mind!