WHS former student Joey Bellofatto ‘21 is now a freshman in college attending Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Bellofatto took some time to reflect on his experience at WHS.
Going into freshman year, he saw many of his friends leaving for private schools such as St. John’s and St. Marks. However, Bellofatto decided to attend Westborough Public Schools and start something new.

He realized that “Westborough High is a place where there is diversity, a lot of extracurricular to choose from, classes that private schools don’t have, and more social opportunities which most private schools don’t have to offer.”

At the start of freshman year, Bellofatto was enlightened by his engineering taught by Mr. Hall.
“Going into freshman year, I was excited about the class, but Mr. Hall exceeded my expectations and inspired me to take this to the next level,” Bellofatto says.

Bellofatto has prided himself in extracurricular activities throughout his high school career and not only focusing on school work. He played 12 seasons of sports, Co-President of Best Buddies, creator of the Engineering Club, and member of the student council. Bellofatto’s involvement in Best Buddies had a significant impact on him personally throughout his years at WHS. He believed that enjoying what high school has to offer was just as important as school work.

Bellofatto is now looking forward to running club track in college and some intramural sports with some friends.

He shares, “

One of Bellofatto’s favorite extracurricular activities was playing baseball. He admired playing for a team and truly loved the sport. However, during his sophomore season, he tore his labrum, a ligament in his shoulder.

Bellofatto recalls, “I tried going through some PT early my junior year, I wasn’t diagnosed until after baseball started my senior year. Meaning I decided to forgo the season before I knew what was wrong. It was a frustrating time, not being able to have a season of varsity baseball after missing junior year. It still saddens me to never have had the opportunity to play baseball at that level.”

He decided to drop baseball for his health and continue his last high school sports season as a track athlete. Although he loved the experience at the track, he still would have loved to be on the baseball field with his teammates.

Bellofatto is undoubtedly happy with the way WHS positively affected his life. He believed that he saw growth year to year as a student, athlete, and leader.

“Academically, I learned how to manage my time and ask for help when I needed it. As a leader, I think the most important thing I learned was to put the greater good of the community before myself; As well as how to manage people and my resources,” he shares.

Bellofatto would advise incoming freshmen to try to be unique, go out of the box, and not be afraid to try something new.

He suggests, “Try to interact with people. If you’re interested in something, go for it, just don’t be scared to try.”

Bellofatto had a rollercoaster of a ride during his time at high school, but he’ll never forget WHS’s impact on him and what will continue to have on him throughout his life.

Bellofatto is now studying engineering, and at this time, he has not chosen which discipline to major in. He is either planning to go into Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical engineering, or Civil engineering.