By: Lauren Chandler

If you have ever walked through the halls of Westborough High School, especially near the school store on the second floor, you have likely seen one of the friendliest teachers in the building: Mrs. Potosnak. For over ten years, Mrs. Potosnak has been teaching a variety of business courses at WHS, including Accounting 1 and 2, Business Concepts, Entrepreneurship, and International Business. But Mrs. Potosnak is a woman of many talents; besides teaching, she is the department head for business and computer science, runs the ever-popular school store (open during break!), leads the Penta Members Scholars Program for senior business students, advises the FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) club, and much more.

In her free time, Mrs. Potosnak enjoys jazzercise, hiking, traveling, and walking her black labrador, Brody. Brody is a very special dog, as he is incredibly sweet and loving, and likes to do whatever Mrs. Potosnak wants to do. She thinks there should be a show called “Everybody Loves Brody”, as he is guaranteed to bring a smile everywhere he goes.

Despite her busy schedule, Mrs. Potosnak always makes time to do what she loves: traveling. In recent years, Mrs. Potosnak has incorporated her love of traveling into the WHS community through the travel program EF Tours. In 2013, she went on her first trip as a group leader to Costa Rica, where students were able to hike through rainforests, zipline through trees, and even go white water rafting. Since then, Mrs. Potosnak has traveled to Italy, London, France, Switzerland, Ireland, the Galapagos Islands, and many other amazing places around the world. In less than a month, she will be taking students to Portugal and Spain with EF Tours to experience the wonders of Lisbon, Seville, and Madrid. She believes it is important for students to travel to experience the variety of lifestyles amongst other cultures, and to gain enough independence to be able to confidently study abroad in college one day.

In the future, Mrs. Potosnak hopes to travel to New Zealand, the Amalfi Coast in Italy, back to Switzerland, and many other places. “I want to see it all”, she says eagerly. As an inspiring leader and role model to all WHS students, Mrs. Potosnak likes to remind everyone that “life’s a journey, you never know where it’ll take you!”