Ketene Arante

M.Ed., Teacher Education, 2022
Fellowship: Middle School, Haverhill, MA

Teacher Education Fellowship Helps a First Generation College Student Make Further Strides

Ketene Arante is an alumna of Merrimack’s M.Ed. in Teacher Education and earned a K-12 Teacher Education fellowship at a middle school in Haverhill, Massachusetts. She currently specializes in teaching English as a Second Language. A Brazilian native who is also a first-generation college student, she attended Boston University for her undergraduate degree upon moving to the United States, and shortly thereafter developed a passion for teaching.

“The main reason why I delayed getting my master’s in education was that I could not afford it. When I heard that this master’s program was fully funded and I would get hands-on experience in classroom instruction, it all seemed too good to be true!”

Ketene explains that it was Merrimack’s Master of Education in Teacher Education program that really opened the door for her career as an educator. She states that:

“I got connected with the Fellowship program at Merrimack and everything fell into place. I immediately recognized that this Fellowship was exactly what I was looking for and needed as a jump start to my educational career”.

Besides covering the full cost of her tuition, Ketene’s fellowship in Haverhill benefited her in another key way. She mentions that the hands-on experience she earned from her fellowship provided her with the opportunity to apply her learned skills to real life situations, helping her to have a deeper understanding of concepts outside of her graduate courses. This was an important factor that enabled her to advance her career in teaching.

Honoring her mentors

Ketene praises her faculty and district mentors for enhancing her fellowship experience. She advises future fellows to take the opportunity to learn from their mentors, listen to their advice, and ask questions. Ketene credits her connections with other experienced teachers for being a catalyst in her growth as an educator.

Ketene’s experience as a Teacher Education Graduate Fellow was recently profiled by Profellow.com. Read more on the Profellow website.

Ketene was also featured in Merrimack’s GradChat podcast. Listen to her podcast episode here!