Mrs. Papetti is a social studies teacher here at Westborough High School, but hasn’t always been known by that title. She grew up in Dedham, MA with her parents and 5 other sisters. She attended a challenging all girls high school, and although she didn’t appreciate the fact that it was all girls at the time, in retrospect she thinks it was a good thing.

Throughout her high school years she loved to play sports, and was a member of the volleyball and the softball teams. As a senior in high school Mrs. Papetti already knew that she wanted to be a teacher, and had her heart set on attending Fairfield University.

Her advice to seniors who are applying to college is to, “Apply and go to the school where you feel like you belong and fit in. Don’t choose to go to a college because of its reputation, or well known name.” She felt this way about Fairfield University, but was put on the waiting list, so she ended up attending St. Michael’s in Vermont, where she majored in Political Science.

After graduation she went to Boston University to earn her Master’s Degree in International Relations, and to UMass Boston to get her Master’s in Education.

After earning all of her degrees Mrs. Papetti started teaching, and has been at Westborough High School for the past 11 years. Out of all of the classes that she teaches, she enjoys Psychology the most. When asked if she would ever want to teach at a level below high school, she replied, “I would only want to teach 5th grade because they are old enough to have a solid knowledge of the basics, and still young enough that they haven’t yet developed a pre-teenage attitude.”

Although it is strange for many students to imagine their teachers as anything other than a teacher, Mrs. Papetti has a whole separate life outside of the classroom. Mrs. Papetti juggles the roles of high school teacher, and mother of two.

Some of her favorite things to do are spend time with her kids, play a good game of volleyball, and just sit out in the sun and relax. Even with her crazy schedule leaving her little to no down time, she still manages to maintain a well rounded life, with a little personal time left over to be alone and recharge.

When she’s not playing the role of the dependable school teacher or the loving mom, she likes to do things like watch her favorite show “Grey’s Anatomy”, and go for walks to clear her head. During her summers off she enjoys vacationing on the Cape and on Newfound Lake in New Hampshire.

Growing up she spent her summers at her parents’ home in West Dennis, MA, working at a local restaurant. At age 11, she started as the “juice girl”. Her job as the juice girl was to fill all of the glasses for the waitresses to bring to the customers. Mrs. Papetti eventually worked her way up to waitress. She says that she still picks up a shift here and there during the summer.

Mrs. Papetti is very modest and humble, and the type of person who never really speaks about herself. When asked to give a few words describing the type of person she believes herself to be, she took a minute before replying loyal, empathetic, and a good listener. Anyone who has had her as a teacher, or knows her at all can certainly attest to these words.