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“School didn’t come easy to me growing up,” says Alaena Merrill ’25, an early childhood education and liberal studies double major at William Paterson University who was nominated by the College of Education, and ultimately selected by the University, as this year’s undergraduate student speaker for Commencement. “This is my personal proof that I can push myself,” Merrill says, beaming.
A native of Solon, Maine, Merrill has a 3.988 grade point average going into her final weeks as an undergraduate student. She is receiving both the Class of 2025 College of Education Dean’s Undergraduate Award for her excellence as an education major and the Patricia Ripmaster Award, recognizing her outstanding academic performance in liberal studies.
Merrill dreams of becoming a kindergarten teacher after Commencement.
Though she once wanted to become a documentary filmmaker and moved to California for that purpose, Merrill found her passion in an unexpected place: the part-time job she landed in a Gymboree location, which offers structured learning and play to young children from infants through age 5.
“Something came alive in me,” Merrill recounts. “I saw the students’ faces light up during a STEM demonstration, and I thought, ‘Well, that’s cool!’ The feeling was life changing.”
After learning about the “incredible teacher education program here,” Merrill says, she set her eyes on becoming a William Paterson Pioneer. She committed herself to success and spent most of her weekends studying hard in the Cheng Library, with “my life ruled by color-coded sticky notes,” she adds, laughing.
Merrill feels “more than ready” to be a classroom teacher thanks to both the academic instruction and overall community at William Paterson, which she praises for being so supportive, welcoming, and dynamic.
“It’s a bittersweet feeling,” she adds, of graduating. “But I’m so excited.”
