It's with mixed feelings that Teri Palmer considers her upcoming retirement.

Even while making plans to leave, the director of Bridge Academy isn't entirely sure she wants to go. Palmer has spent 34 years in education, and she is as passionate about her career as ever.

"I love what I do," she said simply.

Her passion has inspired others, including her daughter, Lissy Boar, to pursue their own careers in education. Boar, now a teacher at Glacier High School, remembers watching Palmer, then a special education teacher, helping students learn to ride bikes during a summer program.

"It was cool how excited she got [about] a student learning to ride his bike," Boar remembered. "She is the reason why I went into the special education field."

Palmer grew up in Butte and graduated from Butte Central Catholic High School. She spent her freshman year at Saint Mary College, now the University of Saint Mary, in Leavenworth, Kansas, but found that "leaving home was not that great." The following year she transferred to what was then Eastern Montana College, now Montana State University-Billings.

When she started college, Palmer planned to pursue a career in medicine. But after a rather lonely work-study job in the Saint Mary chemistry lab, Palmer began to consider a new path.

She credits her cousin with introducing her to special education. Palmer often would help her cousin, who with her husband ran a group home for adults with developmental disabilities.

Palmer found she loved helping teach those adults skills, and she appreciated their humor and innocence.

At the time, special education was an up-and-coming field, Palmer added, making it a good time to pursue a degree in that area.

After graduation, Palmer became the first special education teacher at Ramsay Elementary in the small town between Butte and Fairmont Hot Springs. She also spent time at two other elementary schools, but those districts "didn't want outsiders coming in and telling them what to do," so Palmer eventually focused all her energy on Ramsay.

Her six years there were busy; Palmer coached volleyball, directed the Christmas play and was involved with the teachers union. Then, in the early 1980s, her husband, Bill, was offered a management position with a diesel truck firm in Kalispell.

Palmer searched high and low for work but for a long time was unsuccessful. Then a friend in the Kalispell district tipped her off about a special education position opening at the junior high.

She spent about seven years at Kalispell Junior High School, teaching special education and serving as department chair. Then Palmer decided she needed a change and started teaching fourth grade at Elrod Elementary.

She loved the experience; her students were starting to develop their senses of humor and beginning to show academic skills, but they still "need you to be a mom in the classroom," she said. Because of her background in special education, Palmer's class had more students with special needs than other teachers.

Palmer spent three years at Elrod until the fourth-grade numbers began to drop and the district no longer needed an extra classroom. Palmer chose to return to teaching junior high special education and remained in the position for several years. She once again took over as department chair and also served as president of the teachers union.

Then, in September 2000, Palmer moved to Bridge Academy, a recently opened alternative high school program.

The position, she said, "is probably every special education teacher's dream job. You get to work with students who need help. You get to work with them one on one. And you don't have the paperwork."

Palmer said she also was drawn to the students there. They hadn't found success at the regular high school and doubted their own ability to do well in school.

"I've always liked the underdog," she said.

That attraction to the underdog and willingness to fight helped Palmer the year she moved to Bridge. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2001, after months of fighting with doctors to take her seriously after her mammogram show a spot on one breast.

Doctors wanted her to wait months for a follow-up appointment, an option Palmer was not comfortable with. She finally convinced her doctor to biopsy the spot, which turned out to be cancerous.

"I'm glad that I am in charge of my body," she said. "I do not sit back. I take charge."

That April, Palmer had the lump removed and went through radiation. She was back in time for graduation that spring and has been cancer-free ever since.

Except for the time she spent recovering from surgery and radiation, Palmer has been at Bridge Academy for 11 years.

She has watched the program grow from a room in the former Courthouse East with 11 computers and 30 students to a wing of the Linderman Educational Center with 26 computers, 61 students and a waiting list of 20 to 40 more.

Bridge Academy uses computer programs that allow students to focus on one course at a time. Moving to Bridge was a huge change for Palmer, who admits, "I wasn't a digital native."

A fellow teacher at the junior high was amazed she wanted the position. He told her, "I can't believe you're going to a computer school."

But during her time at Bridge, Palmer has embraced the technology, even going so far as to earn a master's degree in education with a computer curriculum from Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass.

Even with a high-tech degree, however, Palmer said the job is still about helping students. Some Bridge students are the first members of their families to graduate from high school, and for some, graduation is a shock. Palmer recalls with pride several students who never expected to earn a diploma who have gone on to earn college degrees and launch successful careers.

It's a rewarding job, one Palmer hates to give up.

"It's hard to leave a job that you love," she said.

She doesn't yet know what her future holds.

"It would be good if I could keep my hand in education," she said. "But I'm not opposed to spreading my wings."

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by email at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.