Kate Heaney '19 '20G

English Teaching and Spanish Majors, Teaching Masters | Fulbright Teacher
photo of Kate Heaney

What are you currently doing for work and how did you get to this point?

After graduating UNH with majors in English Teaching and Spanish, I stayed at UNH to finish my Master’s in Teaching. During this year I applied for a Fulbright fellowship to teach English in Spain which is what I will be doing from January to June of 2021.

How did your education in COLA prepare you for life after college?

I felt that my courses in COLA more than any Discovery courses outside of the college best taught me how to communicate, think critically and to build communities around myself of supportive people. The classes I taught showed me how many connections there are between everything we have in our lives.

What person or course most influenced you while at UNH?

For Spanish classes it was Professor Weintraub’s  current events course that showed me how much learning a second language can open your world. It was the first spanish course I took that wasn’t focused in the language so much as our course topic. We read and watched the news from a variety of countries on a variety of topics.

What do you know now that you wish you'd known while at UNH?

That being connected to your professors after college is such a gift and I wish I had spent more time earlier at UNH getting to build relationships with the faculty.

What advice do you have for students interested in your field?

Talk to people! Talk to your teachers and to your peers and find people in the field. Ask for advice and accept it even when you didn’t ask for it! Learning a language and teaching are both skills that are never complete, so keep learning and stay engaged.