BU Today: BUSSW Student & Daughter Graduate from Boston University the Same Year
Caren Hunter (CAS’99, SSW’25, Wheelock’25) and her daughter Annica Hunter (CGS’23, CAS’25) both graduated from Boston University in 2025, sharing a unique academic journey that deepened their bond. Caren, an MSW student at BU School of Social Work (BUSSW) earned a dual degree in social work and education, while Annica completed her undergraduate degree in marine science. Their time together on campus allowed them to connect as peers and support each other through their respective educational paths.
Excerpt from “This Mother and Daughter Are Both Graduating from Boston University” by Alene Bouranova:
Caren quickly realized she wanted to go back to school—this time to learn how to help kids and parents get the support that her own family had needed.
‘I realized that the work of supporting kids with learning differences—not learning disabilities—and navigating difficult school systems had really shaped my life,’ she says. ‘And while I had all this life experience, I didn’t actually have the academic background for what I’d been doing.’
BU offers a dual MSW/EdM in either special education or educational leadership. Caren enrolled in the former. (She did the program full-time, teaching CrossFit on the side and raising her two youngest children, a teen and a preteen.) On the social work side, her studies taught her about the systems we live within, and what it takes to change them. On the education side, she studied how people with learning differences process information and evidence-based ways to support students and their families.
It was both eye-opening and validating to finally have the language to articulate the learning concepts she’d adopted for her own kids, Caren says. (Her methods were the result of endless amounts of research and scouring parent forums, she says.) When it came to reading, ‘it feels like a grace of God moment that I was able to stumble onto an understanding of the type of instruction that my kids needed, [what I know now is called] systematic instruction.’
It was also frustrating. ‘I’ve learned that you, as a parent, can ask for things [in the school system] that I didn’t know about back then,’ she says. ‘From a special-education perspective, I now have a much better sense of what you can advocate for.’”