Every year, teachers stay back and watch their students move on to new classes, new opportunities, and new places. Some may consider this a bittersweet moment, but Special Education teacher Mrs. Amber Somers thinks graduation to be the best part.<\/p>\n
\u201cGraduation has always been my favorite,\u201d Somers confessed. \u201cI have attended almost every single one since I\u2019ve been [at North Penn]. You end on a high note and it makes everything, all those annoying things and all the frustrations and all those other things that you\u2019ve felt from September to there\u2026 it erases them. […] It\u2019s just such a positive vibe that I\u2019ve always wanted to be there just so I can be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year, however, Somers will be part of her own graduating class.<\/p>\n
As students grow out of North Penn High School, a place many of them have known for their entire lives, to unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people, Somers does the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, it\u2019s a little bit scary [moving on from North Penn], or a lot a bit scary, I guess you could say,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is the longest I\u2019ve really been anywhere. I\u2019ve never lived in a house for 20 years. I haven\u2019t been married for 20 years. [My career here] is older than my kids. […] I\u2019m excited, but there is some big apprehension for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Somers is not exactly retiring\u2014 she is switching directions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to still be teaching in a capacity, but [I\u2019ll] essentially [be] running a learning support program at a small private school. […] Initially, I\u2019ve always wanted to work with smaller kids. That was my background. That\u2019s what I went to college for,\u201d she explained. \u201cThen life kind of threw me here and [at first] I was like, \u2018I\u2019ll do this for a couple years and then move on.\u2019 Well, now it\u2019s been almost twenty.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the fact that her position at North Penn was intended to be temporary, Somers found a place surprisingly easily.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was very unsure about high school students and I was just used to working with little ones. I was like, \u2018I don\u2019t even think I can do this.\u2019 And then the longer I stayed here\u2026 I really just love it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Her new position, however, will be an intense change of pace. Going from thousands of high school students to a couple hundred young children is an adjustment, one that Somers is no stranger to. In fact, throughout her career at North Penn, Somers claims that she has learned how to be a better teacher and a better person.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to a smaller high school, so I wasn\u2019t in a super diverse environment, and this has been the best learning experience,\u201d she explained. \u201cThe biggest thing I\u2019ve learned [from North Penn] is to really just relax and that it\u2019s not going to be perfect. I\u2019m going to make mistakes, and that\u2019s totally fine. I found that, by making mistakes in class, I relate to students better. I think I was so caught up with trying to be the perfect teacher and keep everything in line, and once I let that go and was just like, \u2018Guys, it is what it is. You\u2019re getting what you\u2019re getting,\u2019 I really opened up a lot more. I made better connections with my classes when I was like, \u201cYeah, I\u2019m crazy. I like the Muppets.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked what advice she would give to her former self, the person she was when she first started at North Penn, she said: \u201cBe yourself. Just come in and show who you are. I [came] here when I was 23. I had some seniors that were only a few years [older than me], and I think I tried to portray this very ultra conservative, put together teacher, but I wasn\u2019t. I\u2019m not now. That\u2019s not my personality and it never has been. So I [would tell her to] take a breath. Be yourself. Honestly, they\u2019re gonna like you or they\u2019re not. You\u2019re not everyone\u2019s cup of tea.\u201d<\/p>\n
In fact, Somers claims her best quality as a teacher is her authenticity.<\/p>\n
\u201cStudents get a very real picture of who I am as a person. There is not \u2018teacher Mrs. Somers\u2019 and then \u2018regular Mrs. Somers.\u2019 I think I\u2019m doing a pretty good job of just, \u2018Here [I am],\u201d she said. \u201cI love when kids come back to say hi. That\u2019s like my most favorite thing in the world because I feel like you can see a little bit of the difference and the impact [you are making].\u201d<\/p>\n
And while Somers no doubt made an impact on North Penn, North Penn has also made an impact on her.<\/p>\n
\u201cMrs. Ducceschi has been my co-teacher for\u2026 I think this is our sixth or seventh year? And it works perfectly. It is the best co-teaching match, no offense to the others, but we\u2019ve really made it work,\u201d Somers said. \u201cAnd Mrs. Poole. I always talk about how she was my first friend here. I was an assistant for her, and she really just made it fun and made it so I wanted to stay here.\u201d<\/p>\n
The people at North Penn have made her feel the most at home, and they are going to be the thing she misses most when she leaves.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the most important part, truth be told. It\u2019s the people. That\u2019s what makes North Penn North Penn: all of the people,\u201d she confessed. \u201cYou know, I have coworkers that were at my wedding and were there when my kids were born. Whether you realize it or not, you get ingrained with everyone and you sort of become this mildly dysfunctional family, but a nice family.\u201d<\/p>\n
The future of education is hard to envision. With so many factors to be considered, teachers have many potential challenges to face.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that [future teachers] can withstand. Education is very, very changing. There\u2019s lots of stuff that I didn\u2019t have to deal with 20 years ago, or wouldn\u2019t have ever thought about,\u201d Somers said. \u201cI think it\u2019s always been hard to be a teacher, but in 2026, it\u2019s very difficult to be a teacher. […] If you\u2019re becoming a teacher, it\u2019s because you want to impart something. You want to give parts of yourself to your students. And I feel like, as long as that stays in the frame of your mind, [you will succeed]. Stay strong. It takes a very special person to become a teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mrs. Somers is that kind of \u201cspecial person,\u201d and North Penn will miss her dearly as she moves on to new things.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, [North Penn] feels like home. This really has felt like home for a very long time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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