Math teacher Toni Smith said life is like tennis. The ball comes at you fast, from unexpected angles and you can’t choose whether it arrives — only how you swing. 

It’s a lesson she learned the hard way. She’s been a Wimbledon-bound scholarship athlete, a broke single mother, an undercover mall officer, a physics teacher without a physics degree and, for the last five years, a math teacher at Los Altos High School. Now, she’s headed into retirement. 

Growing up in Lake Arrowhead, Calif., Smith had her heart set on pursuing professional tennis. But that dream vanished her senior year of high school, when a devastating car crash stripped her of her full-ride tennis scholarship to the University of California, Los Angeles.

“I had this path,” Smith said. “Then life gives you a fork in the road and you have to have a plan B.”

After high school, she married young and had two children before divorcing shortly after. She juggled work and family life while attending college, working as a waitress and an undercover mall officer. 

“Boy, they prosecute everybody,” Smith said. “Let me tell you, do not shoplift.” 

Smith earned her bachelor’s degree in mathematics at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB), and started teaching while simultaneously pursuing a master’s degree in computer science. 

“I realized I could take what I was good at — math — and use it to help students grow,” Smith said. 

In 1990, she graduated with both degrees, becoming a part of the first female graduating class in computer science at CSUSB. But entering the corporate world, Smith said she knew a life in cubicles wasn’t her calling.

So, she returned to teaching — while raising her four children, Smith taught high school math in Lake Arrowhead for 20 years. Then, she moved to the Bay Area, enticed by family connections and the region’s technological opportunities. 

“I loved the Bay Area’s culture,” Smith said. “I loved the possibilities and where everything was going in technology.”

She taught briefly at Henry M. Gunn High School and Mountain View High School before finally landing at LAHS. 

“I’m so very thankful that I transferred because I found my home here,” Smith said.

In the last 5 years, Smith has taught Algebra II Honors, Trigonometry and Geometry. Teaching allows her to combine her longtime passion for math with watching her students grow.

“I love seeing the light go on in the students’ eyes,” Smith said. “They have that ‘aha’ moment.” 

Starting every class period, Smith calls a random student to the whiteboard to explain a warm-up question to the class. But students don’t need to fear — if they’re confused, they can always “phone a friend.” 

“It’s not to put them on the spot,” Smith said. “When kids can explain what they learned to another student, it solidifies what they’re doing.” 

By the end of the year, Smith notices her students becoming more confident in asking for help and supporting others — a shift she attributes to her interactive teaching style. 

“At first, people are like, ‘I’m so nervous about coming up,’” Smith said. “Towards the end, it’s like, ‘Ms. Smith, let me do that on the board.’”

Her students’ enthusiasm extends beyond class time. On quiz and test days, Smith hosts “Breakfast Club,” where she reviews with students starting at 7 a.m. A tradition for the past four years, Smith said about 10 to 30 students attend each one. The Breakfast Club’s creation was entirely student-driven, and its sessions are as well. 

“Having the option to get more help one-on-one makes you feel more confident in yourself and in your skills,” junior Erin Jesensky said. “It’s definitely something I’ll miss when I go to other math classes.”

Smith described stepping out for a meeting one Breakfast Club, and returning to see a couple of students leading group instruction, telling the other members which problems to try and how to solve them. 

“Once they own their learning and are encouraging other people to do the same, it makes everything worthwhile,” Smith said. 

During class, Smith shares real life stories, connected to some real life lessons. Whether it’s her years as an undercover mall officer or the celebrities she met when her children were child actors, she shares it all. 

“The more you share and you open up with kids, they will also learn to be more resilient and use their voice,” Smith said.

Her willingness to share has not gone unnoticed by her students.

“She always brings up her personal life,” Junior Mayank Shah said. “She really tried to connect with every student on a human level. Its really genuine.”

Teaching at LAHS for the past 5 years, Smith has grown accustomed to classroom life. As she heads into retirement, she said she’ll enter one of the most uncertain chapters of her life so far. 

“I’m so happy, but I’m terrified,” Smith said. “I’m terrified that I won’t be able to find my value.” 

Smith has been searching for an activity that brings the same fulfillment as teaching. One idea is restarting an old hobby: recording and publishing math review videos on YouTube, which she started doing while teaching at Gunn. Smith said she has recorded hundreds of videos which are offered to students as a supplementary resource. 

“I’ve got to find that little niche where I can still contribute,” Smith said. “I want to keep the synapses firing.” 

Regardless of what she’ll explore, she’ll do it with family. While her ultimate goal is to spend more time with her husband, she’s also ready to visit her five grandchildren and her mother more frequently. 

“I wanted to spend more time with my mom and learn more life lessons,” Smith said. “Back when I was a teenager, I didn’t want to hear it.”

Her long-term plan is returning home to Lake Arrowhead, spending the days kayaking and learning how to fish at the lake near their house. 

But her first stop post-retirement? Lake Cuomo, Italy, with her family. This trip was a no-brainer for Smith, who’s loved Italy since she spent a school year there at 11 years old. 

“Who sends an 11-year-old to Italy?” Smith said. “But we survived and learned the language, and I just found a love of traveling.” 

While Smith is ready to reap the rewards of her years of hard work, she reminds students that her life path wasn’t easy. But she doesn’t want her students to focus on her hardships — rather, on her resilience. 

“Life is never going to get bigger and better if you give up when things get hard,” Smith said. “You’re stronger than you think.”