TMF Values is an incredible place to be with spectacular people who are more than just teachers. I mean, did you know the teachers of TMF Values didn’t ever actually plan to be teachers!?- at least until they came to CDH and found a place they can call home. Our TMF teachers value their students and each other. They dearly cherish each other very much and are good friends outside of teaching. Ms. Fetterly says that having co-values teachers means more than work colleagues but rather, it’s like having companions too.
“I feel like I won the lottery, they are so smart and fun and just great teachers. We get along, we have a good vibe. Having my buddies, it’s (like) working with your friends. Who doesn’t love that?” said Fetterly.
Together, Mr. Tacheny, Mr. Meeker, and Ms. Fetterly have taught freshmen values for 14 years overall. They all agreed on one rewarding experience of values: teaching their previous 9th grade students as all-grown-up seniors. Mr. Meeker calls those certain students his “bookenders” because they start and end their high school careers with him as their teacher.
Mr. Tacheny was born in Mankato and knew he didn’t want to be the traditional teacher in the classroom. He wanted to teach outside of the box and have an outdoor learning experience; he wanted to break the set boundaries of teaching. Tacheny did achieve that. Indeed, while he is teaching inside in a classroom, but his teaching is far from monotonous. He went to school at Saint Johns for French and Latin first, but he chose to go back to Minnesota State University in Mankato to teach. He first taught at a charter school, but he came to CDH because it was superior. Similarly to Fetterly, he had, also, found the ad in the paper for an English teaching position. Tacheny has been an English driven individual and enjoys reading all types of books from the classics to fiction. He is a very enthusiastic teacher; everyone can tell, when he is teaching, that he always has his full attention on what he is teaching. He has taught just about all the English courses offered here at CDH, and he especially enjoys AP Lit and English. He has been teaching at CDH for 19 years.
“Mr. Tacheny gives me amazing guidance and helps me improve my writing skills. He is a helpful and kind teacher,” current TMF student, Angel Chicone.
Mr. Meeker was a Pre-Med student at Notre Dame, his first experience with private education. Mr. Meeker has always been involved in his faith, and with his family has enjoyed engaging in charity work reflecting his Catholic faith. His family joined Maryknoll, a Catholic mission group that reaches out especially with the poor, and that caused him to end up in Brazil for 4 years accompanied by his 3 boys and his wife. While he was in Brazil, his family adopted a young girl, Sofia, who didn’t have much family involvement. Sadly, she is unable to enter the United States because of immigration restrictions, but they visit her in Canada, where she currently resides, on holidays and they FaceTime together as well. When he came back from Brazil, he was wondering what the best school for his children to attend and many said CDH. He decided to interview for an open religion teaching position and he got the job. His past teaching job was at Holy Angels for 10 years. He has been teaching at CDH for 19 incredible years. Mr. Meeker has also taught religious focused courses here at CDH including Men’s Spirituality, a male only class.
“Mr. Meeker is pretty cool and an uplifting person,” said current TMF student, Sha Suggs.
Fetterly was born in New Jersey and graduated from Vermont Law school. After, she worked as a real estate lawyer for 15 years.
“I was a kind of document lawyer, like I would just read a lot of papers and it was a little dull to be honest.” Fetterly said. She knew that might not have been the right fit.
She got into teaching because she often took time off of work to visit her children and became known as the “cool mom.” She started being a chaperone for field trips and she figured out that this is what yearned for; she went back to school at Saint Mary’s and got a masters in education. That is also when she found an ad in the paper for a social studies teaching opening at CDH, and, actually, she applied with 85 other applicants and was the one they chose. She’s taught all the social studies classes here at CDH and this year she is teaching AP African American Studies, something new at CDH. Fetterly has enjoyed social studies for her whole life and her lawyer personality ties into her love of history. She has been with us at CDH for 18 years, going on her 19th soon.
“Ms. Fetterly is a fun person to be around and an amazing teacher. She’s so understanding,” says current TMF student, Zora Omann.