When Victor Trautman graduated from Dickinson State University in North Dakota in the early 1970s, the biology major received some wise advice from his brother-in-law: people are always going to have kids, and people are always going to need schools. As a result, Trautman made the decision to become a teacher.

Forty-five years later, Trautman is retiring from Petersburg High School where he spent 29 years teaching science.

"I chose well," said Trautman. "I have never regretted being a science teacher."

After he graduated, his plans to be a teacher were put on hold, because he was drafted...