Robina Sommers

If I had to pick a place to live in the entire world, it would be right here in Goshen, Indiana.

I was born in Bombay, India. My parents were divorced when I was a little girl, so it was just my mother and myself going through life. We rented rooms in other people’s homes, and since most people did not want children as renters, I learned to be very, very quiet. If you check in with my students, they’ll tell you that I’m making up for lost time!

While at Woodstock School in India, Kermit and Clydene Gingerich, teachers at Woodstock, thought Hesston College in Hesston, Kansas, would be a good fit for me. Knowing that they planned to move back to Hesston that fall, my mother felt better about my traveling 12,000 miles away. I look back on that now – as a parent of a college-aged son and a high school senior daughter – and I don’t know how my mother let me go so far away, back in the day when there was no texting, computers, etc.

I met my husband, Kendal, at Hesston College. We both transferred to Goshen College and married after graduation. After two years in Goshen, we moved away for three and a half years to Oregon so that I could get to know his family, but we always knew we would return to Goshen.

After 27 years as an elementary school teacher, this fall I moved to Goshen High School to teach English. It’s a privilege to be with my students, encouraging them to respond to the world around them. I absolutely love it!

Kendal and I could not have picked a better place to raise our children. Our son, Ben, is a junior at IU, and our daughter, Priya, is a senior at Goshen High School. They have thrived in this beautiful town.

Why Goshen? Diversity, changing seasons, a thriving downtown, a commitment to family and friends…the list is endless. We are connected to each other in a palpable way. As far as I’m concerned, Goshen is the best place in the world. And that’s why I’m proud to be a Goshenite for life.