Retiring teachers, school counselor wish students farewell

At the end of the school year, chemistry teacher Patricia Sohmer will retire after teaching at Altoona for 35 years. Altoona was the first and only school Sohmer taught at, graduating college at the age of 21 and finding a job at the high school soon after. For Sohmer, working at the school has meant a lot to her. She has helped the school by putting both time and effort into the community, which a...

This year, guidance counselor Julie Fleck will retire after working at the high school for 35 years. For her first seven years at the high school, Fleck was an English teacher and then spent the following 28 years as a school counselor. No matter if she taught the subject of English or counseled students, Fleck always cared about her work and the students at the school. She specifically felt gratefu...

Chemistry teacher Joseph Sohmer will be retiring at the end of the school year after teaching at Altoona for 25 years.  Before Altoona, Sohmer taught at DuBois Area High School for three years before working at Altoona.  After 25 years of teaching, Sohmer has many memories from his time at Altoona, especially memories that include class time with his students. As he looks back at previous ...

After teaching at the high school for 24 years, biology teacher Kelli Stoudnour will be retiring at the end of this school year along with her husband and chemistry teacher Eric Stoudnour who has taught at the high school for almost 29 years.  While E. Stoudnour has worked at Altoona for all of his years of teaching, K. Stoudnour worked at both Tyrone and Chestnut Ridge High School before teaching a...