A Dream Deferred
Two Samo teachers defied the status quo by taking detours before starting their careers in education.Out of the thousands of career paths that exist, it isn’t always clear which one we are destined to follow. Maybe the politically inclined student will become the next Abraham Lincoln, or the idealistic writer will morph into a modern-day F. Scott Fitzgerald, or, who knows, a future Marilyn Monroe may already be performing in Barnum. Whether or not we become celebrities or famed politicians, everyone takes a character-shaping journey to discover what it is they want to be.When Samo math teacher Steve Rupprecht finished college, he felt that he was not yet ready to begin a career. His four years in college did not serve as a long enough period to discover one exclusive passion, and so he decided he needed to explore his options.“My problem when I was in college was that I was interested in too many things. I loved math, science, literature, reading, languages, geography—and the whole world,” Rupprecht said. “I wanted to explore the whole world.”And “explore the world” was exactly what he did. Over the time span of thirteen years, Rupprecht traveled to over 45 countries around the world. After about eight months of traveling, he would come back to the U.S. for a few months to gain some income, usually running camping tours across North America. After saving enough money, he would return to his life as a world traveler.“I would save up to go traveling for another five months and go to Asia or Africa,” Rupprecht said. “ And then I’d come back penniless, destitute, desperate for work and then start another session of trips or some other job to save up and go off again.”After thirteen years of these continuous adventures, Rupprecht realized that was it was time for him to settle down with a stable job.“I needed to find a career, and my love of math and science got me into teaching the subject. I always enjoyed getting people interested in something I loved and seeing a side of a subject that they didn’t even realize existed.”According to Rupprecht, his years of traveling amplified his teaching qualifications.“I’m always amazed that there are people who come straight out of college to teach, teaching 17 and 18 year-olds,” Rupprecht said. “There’s not much difference between their life experiences, and I think it’s really important that before someone teaches, they test themselves.”Because Rupprecht gained so many life lessons through traveling, it was obvious that teaching would be the right fit because he would be able to influence his students through his experiences.“Traveling around the world made me realize that there’s so much that’s going on outside myself and there’s still a lot to learn,” Rupprecht said. “It’s a lifetime process.”Meanwhile, fellow math teacher and Samo 1989 alumnus Ramón Veral had an equally enlightening experience, but in the complete opposite way — instead of traveling, he remained in Santa Monica. While it took Rupprecht thirteen years of traveling around the world to discover his passion, it took Veral twelve years working at Albertsons to do the same.Because the Albertsons Veral worked in is located less than two miles away from Samo, he frequently stumbled upon old teachers and principals. While checking groceries, Veral took classes at Santa Monica College (SMC) without much academic structure.“I wasn’t living at home by the time I was a senior, so I didn’t have much guidance to tell me what the next step was,” Veral said. “For me, it was just like ‘I have this good job at the supermarket, good benefits good hours and I was just going to SMC part time.”Though Veral only took general education at SMC, he took many math classes because of his love for the subject. After transferring to Cal State Northridge and receiving a degree in Sociology, he continued to work at the grocery store until he stumbled upon a substitute teaching opportunity through his old principal and other acquaintances in the district.“The day I had gone to talk to [old friend and Samo teacher Verónica Garcia-Hecht] for teaching advice, a math teacher had quit,” Veral said. “It was just crazy timing. The principal then offered me a long term subbing job, and I just said ‘You know, why not.’”The summer after his first long term subbing job Veral again took up a position at Samo — this time teaching summer school.“Usually, summer school has all the ‘F’ kids, so basically they put me in the toughest situation,” Veral said. “They were like ‘If you can handle this, there’s not much we can throw at you that you can’t handle.’”Once Veral impressed his bosses with his teaching ability, he accepted the official teaching job and finally decided that it would be too much to teach at Albertsons as well.“Quitting my job was a one of the scariest things I had done,” Veral said. “Someone once said to me ‘Taking the risk is the risk,’ and if I wouldn’t have taken the chance to quit my job at Albertsons I wouldn’t be here.”Though checking groceries behind a counter is a slightly different experience than standing in front of a class and being responsible for teaching a student new information, there are some similarities between the two jobs.“It taught me how to deal with different people from different backgrounds, ethnicities,” Veral said. “It also taught me to be patient with my students, because I would have to be very polite to customers who would make me want to scream at them to get out.”Rupprecht and Veral’s routes to their careers of teaching were undoubtedly not the norm. However, their irregular journeys have shaped them into the educators they are today. Without these experiences, they may have never brought their passion of teaching to Samo students.