Teaching was not on the radar for Spanish teacher Andrea Page. 

“If you’d ask me back when I graduated high school, ‘Are you going to be a teacher?’” she said. “No way! I didn’t think I had the patience for it.

Now, she is retiring after teaching for 32 years, including six years at Venice High.  

“I didn’t choose teaching,” she said. “It chose me. I do believe that being a teacher will always be a part of who I am.” 

She attended Cal State LA, where she received two degrees in Latin American Studies and began searching for a job after completing her master’s in 1991. 

Right after graduating college, she was offered to teach English as a Second Language to immigrants, which she did for the next four years. This is where she found her enjoyment in teaching and helping others in a classroom.

As a person in the teaching profession, she learned the importance of taking care of herself because of how demanding being a teacher is. She describes teaching full-time to be difficult because of the organization and focus required daily.

“This job has taught me an incredible amount of patience,” Page said. “When I retire, I’m going to go back to doing all the things I used to do when I was younger, which is playing music and doing art.”

Throughout the years as the use of technology began to become adopted by teachers, Page prefers using the traditional style to teach, which is pen and paper.

 “I teach in a way that I can understand and explain to students,” said Page. “The biggest change from when I was in high school, is having to memorize and handwrite everything, now it’s easy to get information instantly.

Page’s story has not ended. 

“It’s never too late—no matter what has happened or how old you are, don’t let your fears get in the way,” she said. “If it’s meant for you, it is and if it’s not, you’ll know that.

“As a student, you’re just thinking your grades define you. Your grades don’t define you, so many others define you. Follow your heart so that you’re happy and don’t regret anything that you really wanted to do, but didn’t do.”