As a teacher you are more or less obliged to pay the same amount of attention to everything. That can wear you down.

I worked as a secretary, a waitress and a dance teacher - all in high school.

Usually, girls weren't encouraged to go to college and major in math and science. My high school calculus teacher, Ms. Paz Jensen, made math appealing and motivated me to continue studying it in college.

I had this wonderful career and thought I would retire as a teacher.

If you told me when I was a teen that I would end up being a teacher, I would have said you're out of your mind, because quite frankly I hated school.