TOWAMENCIN- After 35 years working in the guidance department of the North Penn School District, Mr. Spence Miller bids farewell to the staff and students of North Penn High School who Miller has always seen as “gifts,” as he will retire at the end of the school year.
Serving as the Director of the College and Career Center, Miller plays in an integral role in easing the transition of high school students to levels of higher education or employment. About five years ago, the guidance department at North Penn proposed to the administration that the creation of a specialized department to focus solely on helping students make this transition was necessary, as an increasing number of students approached guidance counselors with questions regarding college and future plans.
After a year of experimentation with the College and Career Center, the specialized department sort of “exploded” according to Miller, who notes the College and Career Center to be another one of the “gifts” his time at North Penn has offered.
“I think you have to be a jack of all trades in guidance; this position clearly has more focus, but I feel more depth,” said Miller of the “gift” of shifting from his position as a guidance counselor at North Penn, a position he formerly held at the middle school level, to the specialized position he now holds.
Miller has appreciated the opportunity to be able to create the program from scratch and watch it grow into a resource many students and parents find to be of great assistance.
“I like working with students and family, and the staff here is kind of amazing… it’s a lot about feeling very lucky that I get to do what I like to do with some really amazing people,” said Miller.
As Miller leaves North Penn, he hopes that the College and Career Center will continue in some capacity, having seen the success of the program thus far. He admits that a College and Center would’ve been a help to him in high school, as Miller would go on to explore three or four different majors before settling on Psychology in his final year of college.
In fact, Miller entered Muhlenberg College with a major in Biology, hoping to fulfill his childhood dreams of swimming with the dolphins like Jacques Cousteau. While in theory his plan seemed to work, in reality, Miller found himself taking challenging science courses along with about 200 Pre-Med students.
“There was a slight gap between what I thought swimming with dolphins would be like and what you had to actually do to get to do that,” said Miller.
Once Miller settled into his niche of Psychology, the influence of one of his professors encouraged him to take up a minor in education. Following graduation, Miller worked in a private setting with people struggling with learning disabilities and emotional problems. From there, he moved into a position in residential program, before he finally settled into a school program. Having realized, “School’s a good place if you’re interested in working with young people and captive audiences,” Miller went on to receive his Master’s Degree in counseling, so that he could serve in the guidance department.
While Miller finds his current position to be enjoyable, especially the past five years in which he’s been able to work closely with the subject of college preparation and future planning, Miller looks forward to a looser schedule.
“To be really honest, one of the nicer things will be that the alarm won’t go off at 5:30 in the morning. It leads me to being more in control of my time. I can choose things to do. I feel like I’m not so much retiring, sort of transitioning. I really do like this work, I think it’s important,” said Miller, going on to emphasize his devotion to his work and his plans to continue to act as a college resource to community members or in a personal way. “I’m not interested in stopping the work, it’s the schedule,” he said.
Aside from his continued work in the field, Miller plans to spend more time with his wife, two daughters, and two grandchildren. With his two grandchildren nearby in Bucks County, Miller is excited about getting to spend more time with them, although he hopes to have the opportunity to satisfy the travel “bug” that Miller said “bit” when he took a sabbatical from his career to work at the University level in Scotland. Miller recalls the experience as “an amazing opportunity,” as he and his family fully immersed themselves in Scotland for an entire year.
Despite his overseas adventure, Miller refers to him and his wife as “not terribly exciting people,” admitting that they have no plans to go skydiving or bungee jumping anytime soon, sticking instead to movie watching and book reading.
Although the reality of retirement hasn’t quite hit, and might not hit until the new school year starts up in the fall and Miller doesn’t have to set his alarm, he hopes he’ll “quickly recover” from the shock.
Nevertheless, Mr. Miller will certainly miss the faculty, students, and families that he has worked with over his extensive career, the “gifts” of his time at North Penn.
“There are a lot of students in here, with an amazing range of interests and abilities. It’s a good reminder of how many opportunities and how many paths there are to get where you want to go… I got to work with these people and discover what a broad range of paths and options that people can take, and for me it’s just good to be reminded of that. We live in a world that says one way is best, but there’s really lots of paths. And that’s sort of one message I learned or re-learned in this opportunity,” said Miller, suggesting that the people he has worked with have taught him something in return.
For those of you who may have never visited the College and Career Center or talked to Mr. Miller, I leave you this last bit of valuable advice from the legend himself, “Trust your own judgment, there’s true value in doing research and practice and doing your own work… trust yourself. You don’t want to end up wondering “what if.” You’ve got to go to the end of the nest and jump a little bit, taking calculated risks. I think that’s part of the learning, aside from the 50 hours a week spent in class.”