Since student in-person attendance has been mixed the last year and a half, many students did not have the chance to get to know some of the school’s staple faculty members. If you take or are planning to take any history classes in the upper school, chances are you’ll meet seasoned Barstow veteran, Dr. Aaron Ketchell. Dr. Ketchell, nicknamed “Ketch” by both himself and his students, came to Barstow 15 years ago.
At first, Dr. Ketchell did not expect to end up at Barstow, stating, “I was actually working as a professor at UNLV, before some family reasons caused us to have to move back here. Most of my family is here. I had actually grown up in Kansas City, but more in the KCK area. Barstow being relatively far south, I just never really went around this area.”
Now in his 15th year at Barstow, Dr. Ketchell has laid down some roots. The school has become a family affair for him, in fact. His wife, Marcia Fisher, now works at Barstow as well in Development. They had their 23rd anniversary, and he made sure to tell B-Line that he wishes her a Happy Anniversary. Both of his kids, Clara ‘21 and Gus ‘23 have been students at Barstow. Gus currently still attends Barstow, while Clara graduated and is a freshman at Kansas University. His family is completed by his one dog and one cat. Dr. Ketchell said that often his family has significantly more pets than their current two.
As a high school student, Dr. Ketchell was an excellent student. “I went to high school at Sumner, which is actually a school I believe Barstow has played against in various sports. As a student, I did pretty well. It would be fair to say that I was also pretty good at baseball. I actually did get an offer from Grinnell College- a small school up in Iowa.”
Dr. Ketchell did not, unfortunately, end up pursing a career in baseball, “I ended up at Boston University, where I ended up studying Poli-sci there. After undergrad, I did all of my advanced degree studies at KU. I have both a masters and a PhD from there.” Barstow students are certainly happy Dr. Ketchell ended up teaching instead.
His teaching also isn’t limited to State Line Road, “I actually also still teach some college classes there [at KU] on top of Barstow.”
Outside of school, Dr. Ketchell has several hobbies. He is an avid fantasy football player, often reading analysis in between classes to set the ideal lineup for his match. In addition to fantasy football, Dr. Ketchell enjoys watching the Chiefs, Royals, and of course, his KU Jayhawks. He is also quite the handyman and had some comments on that label, “I would consider myself fairly handy, to say the least. A certain English teacher named Mr. Luce thinks himself to be skillful, but I would perhaps challenge him to do some DIY after dark. My preferred home improvement store is actually Menard’s, which may be a bit controversial.” B-Line politely suggests a competition to be held between the two long-time Barstow faculty members, perhaps on BTVN.
Dr. Ketchell left the community with a final message, saying, “I am just very glad I decided to try and work at Barstow 15 years ago. It has become a wonderful place for my family and I look forward to many more years in the community.”
