UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State College of Education has named Casey Sommers as its student marshal for fall 2017. She will be recognized during the Penn State undergraduate commencement ceremony at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16, at the Bryce Jordan Center on the University Park campus. Sommers has chosen Kimberly Mowery, instructor of education (Curriculum and Instruction), to escort her as the College's Faculty Marshal. Lindsay Hayes has served as her academic adviser.
"I am honored to be selected as the student marshal for the College of Education," Sommers said. "I feel as though my hard work and passion for teaching are being recognized and I am so grateful for the acknowledgment."
Regarding her selection of Mowery as the Faculty Marshal, Sommers said, "Kim has been an incredible mentor to me. She gave me so many valuable experiences, from mock interviews with principals to resume workshopping, as well as constant advice and support during student teaching. Kim truly has left me feeling prepared to leave Penn State and begin my career as an educator."
Majoring in childhood and early adolescent education, middle level social studies option (grades 4-8), Sommers was a pre-student teacher at Bellefonte Elementary School in fall 2016. She did her student teaching in spring semester 2017 at Park Forest Middle School, where she created and taught learning plans in five sections of eighth-grade civics classes; navigated a block schedule in timing 80-minute lessons; and taught a 10-lesson unit on criminal justice that culminated in a mock trial.
She also had an international student teaching experience in April and May of 2017 at Target Road Primary School in Auckland, New Zealand, where she taught alongside a cooperative teacher in a diverse class of 27 students aged 9 to 11; attended professional development trainings in an education system unlike that in the United States; and learned about traditional Maori culture and methods to teach indigenous populations.
Sommers also worked as an assistant teacher at Our Children's Center Montessori in State College; was a classroom aide at Park Forest Preschool; and was a junior golf lesson instructor with the Penn State University Golf Courses.
She has been honored with the Evan Pugh Scholar Junior Award, President Sparks Award and the President's Freshman Award, all at Penn State.
Her parents, Scott and Laura Sommers; sister, Carly; and brother-in-law, Seth, plan to attend the ceremony. After graduation, Sommers plans to teach upper elementary or middle school in Oregon.