+ Abby Sommerfeld TTC '04
 | Currently: Academic and Family Coach, San Francisco, CA Impact: As my teaching career unfolded, I saw both the need for, and the positive impact of, individualized support in one-on-one settings where students feel seen, heard, and safe. This realization prompted me to leave the classroom and start an academic and family coaching practice. |
If you had told my bright-eyed, 24-year-old apprentice self that I would one day leave the classroom and become a life coach, I may not have believed you. I knew the TTC offered unparalleled training, a community steeped in a rich pedagogical legacy, and the preparation to carry that legacy forward. What I couldn’t know was how my career would evolve and the ways in which my TTC experience would inform and impact the directions it would take.
Upon graduating from the TTC in 2004, I was looking for adventure. I ended up teaching in a small school started by Jenny Freeman TTC ’00 on the Bahamian island of Eleuthera. There, I expanded my toolkit, grew as an educator, and even met my future husband Chris, Shady Hill Class of ‘96. My next stop was Hillbrook School, nestled in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. At the helm was Sarah Bayne, an ex-SHS gradehead. Not a decade out, I had SHS to thank for my most formative experiences in the classroom, my first mentors, and my husband.
As my teaching career unfolded, I saw both the need for, and the positive impact of, individualized support in one-on-one settings where students feel seen, heard, and safe. This realization prompted me to leave the classroom and start an academic and family coaching practice. My practice supports parents, children, and families in connecting and aligning with one another and with their values. My work, which also includes teaching and writing, draws on many elements: my TTC training, years as an educator, work leading groups and teams, formal training as a life coach, and experience as a parent. Looking back, I see how all these components are building blocks, each scaffolding the next. At the base of it all is Shady Hill and the TTC: home to my earliest mentors, springboard for my most formative teaching experiences, and the foundation of my career.
.png){kind=logo}
