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.

“Graduation has always been my favorite,” Somers confessed. “I have attended almost every single one since I’ve 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’ve felt from September to there… it erases them. […] It’s just such a positive vibe that I’ve always wanted to be there just so I can be a part of it.”

This year, however, Somers will be part of her own graduating class.

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.

“Honestly, it’s a little bit scary [moving on from North Penn], or a lot a bit scary, I guess you could say,” she said. “This is the longest I’ve really been anywhere. I’ve never lived in a house for 20 years. I haven’t been married for 20 years. [My career here] is older than my kids. […] I’m excited, but there is some big apprehension for sure.”

Somers is not exactly retiring— she is switching directions.

“I’m going to still be teaching in a capacity, but [I’ll] essentially [be] running a learning support program at a small private school. […] Initially, I’ve always wanted to work with smaller kids. That was my background. That’s what I went to college for,” she explained. “Then life kind of threw me here and [at first] I was like, ‘I’ll do this for a couple years and then move on.’ Well, now it’s been almost twenty.”

Despite the fact that her position at North Penn was intended to be temporary, Somers found a place surprisingly easily.

“I was very unsure about high school students and I was just used to working with little ones. I was like, ‘I don’t even think I can do this.’ And then the longer I stayed here… I really just love it,” she said.

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.

“I went to a smaller high school, so I wasn’t in a super diverse environment, and this has been the best learning experience,” she explained. “The biggest thing I’ve learned [from North Penn] is to really just relax and that it’s not going to be perfect. I’m going to make mistakes, and that’s 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, ‘Guys, it is what it is. You’re getting what you’re getting,’ I really opened up a lot more. I made better connections with my classes when I was like, “Yeah, I’m crazy. I like the Muppets.’”

When asked what advice she would give to her former self, the person she was when she first started at North Penn, she said: “Be 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’t. I’m not now. That’s not my personality and it never has been. So I [would tell her to] take a breath. Be yourself. Honestly, they’re gonna like you or they’re not. You’re not everyone’s cup of tea.”

In fact, Somers claims her best quality as a teacher is her authenticity.

“Students get a very real picture of who I am as a person. There is not ‘teacher Mrs. Somers’ and then ‘regular Mrs. Somers.’ I think I’m doing a pretty good job of just, ‘Here [I am],” she said. “I love when kids come back to say hi. That’s 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].”

And while Somers no doubt made an impact on North Penn, North Penn has also made an impact on her.

“Mrs. Ducceschi has been my co-teacher for… 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’ve really made it work,” Somers said. “And 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.”

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.

“That’s the most important part, truth be told. It’s the people. That’s what makes North Penn North Penn: all of the people,” she confessed. “You 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.”

The future of education is hard to envision. With so many factors to be considered, teachers have many potential challenges to face.

“I hope that [future teachers] can withstand. Education is very, very changing. There’s lots of stuff that I didn’t have to deal with 20 years ago, or wouldn’t have ever thought about,” Somers said. “I think it’s always been hard to be a teacher, but in 2026, it’s very difficult to be a teacher. […] If you’re becoming a teacher, it’s 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.”

Mrs. Somers is that kind of “special person,” and North Penn will miss her dearly as she moves on to new things.

“You know, [North Penn] feels like home. This really has felt like home for a very long time,” she said.