“I was the girl that always played teacher when I [was] growing up. I [would set] my dolls up and stuffed animals up and they’d be my students [that I] would play school with. When I graduated high school, I went to Mizzou to become a broadcast journalist. I talked to a couple of people in the field and they all said to go wherever the jobs are. I knew I wasn’t the type of person [whose] career was going to drive them around the world, and I knew I was in the wrong place, so I talked to my parents, and they [said] that I’ve always loved teaching. I went to Missouri State University, [then got a job] in a small town called Buffalo just north of Springfield and I worked there for two years. After that, I decided to get my graduate degree in math, and I had an opportunity to get a grad assistantship where I could go to school and teach. We ended up moving here to St. Louis and I taught for 10 years in the Fort Zumwalt district, and then seven years here at Parkway West. The one piece of advice I always give students is that they will spend more waking hours of their adult life in their job than anything else they do; so find something that you’re passionate about and something that you love. Oftentimes as an adult, I feel like I’m saying one thing and doing another thing, but that [advice] I feel like I’m truly living.” – Andrea Horn, Math