Most students see their teachers in the classroom, teaching lessons, and giving out homework, but many students do not realize that not all teachers always planned on teaching. From landscaping to catering, teachers here at AGHS had a variety of different career paths before deciding education was the place they belonged. 

For some teachers, working in education was always in the back of their mind, even though it wasn’t the first career they followed. 

Aaron Sue, a statistics teacher at AGHS, spent many years outside of the classroom before realizing teaching was what he wanted to do. 

“I used to be a real estate agent,” Sue said. “I did that for 10 years.”

In his earlier years, teaching crossed Sue’s mind after he spent a year substituting at elementary schools. 

“I realized I did not want to teach elementary school anymore and wanted to switch to high school,” Sue said. “But I was 23 at that time, and I thought I was too close to the high school age.”

A decade after starting real estate, he decided to revisit teaching when the time was right, and he realized that was what he truly wanted to do. 

For other teachers, teaching was almost always a part of their career. 

Justin Chapa’s teaching career started on the field instead of the classroom. 

“When I first got out of high school, I was working at ‘Me-n-Ed’s Pizza,’ but immediately after that, I started working at schools,” Chapa said. “I started as a yard duty and coaching pretty much every sport at a middle school for about two years.” 

While working at schools, he began helping students with their school work, specifically math, which led him to begin teaching inside the classrooms. 

“The parents convinced me to be a tutor and a teacher,” Chapa said, which is what ultimately led to his career as a math teacher. 

Other teachers never imagined they would end up pursuing education. 

Mike Greenlee began his career in the total opposite direction from teaching. 

“Before teaching, I was a city planner for a private architecture firm in Newport Beach,” Greenlee said. 

Soon after starting that job, he knew it was not for him. 

“I knew pretty quickly that was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” Greenlee said. 

Greenlee’s nieces and nephews are what encouraged him to become a teacher. He would help them with schoolwork, and they would tell him, “We wish you were our teacher,” which encouraged him to become a teacher. 

Similar to Greenlee, Shauna Angell, another teacher at AGHS, discovered teaching as a better career choice than what she had originally planned. 

“Before I started teaching, I was a rehab trainer at a physical therapy clinic,” Angell said.

However, soon after, she realized the five days a week with no break work schedule was not for her. 

“I did not want to work in an office five days a week for the rest of my life,” Angell said. 

She wanted a more fun and interactive career path. 

“I wanted to work with people with more creativity,” Angell said. 

After discovering that, Angell decided teaching would be the right fit for her. 

Katie Boos, a science teacher at AGHS, realized teaching was for her after working with students at a previous job. 

Before teaching, Boos had a variety of jobs. 

“I did pet sitting, landscaping, and catering for a resort,” Boos said.

She then began working at a habitat restoration where she worked with a group of students. 

“Thats what made me decide I wanted to be a teacher,” Boos said. “I really liked working with the students on field trips.”

Although each teacher’s journey to the classroom was different, they all found the joys of teaching in the end. Whether it was family, the students, or the creativity of being in a classroom, each teacher found their passion as a high school teacher.