Subject to Change: Teaching and Learning from Teen Moms

After decades in medical science—and a detour into writing novels that never quite worked—Janice Airhart wasn’t ready to fade quietly into retirement. At fifty-five, she took a leap into the unknown and became alternatively certified to teach high school science to pregnant and parenting teen girls in suburban Oklahoma.

Armed with subject expertise and life skills but zero classroom experience, Airhart expected to share wisdom. Instead, she found herself schooled. Her students—often tired, absent, or juggling the demands of motherhood—challenged her to think beyond lesson plans. Science facts alone weren’t enough; reaching them meant adapting to their lives, their interests, and sometimes, their babies’ nap schedules.

In Subject to Change, Airhart shares her bumpy, funny, and eye-opening transformation from lab scientist to unconventional educator. From adapting creative experiments—like a DNA lab using liquor-store Everclear—to learning the power of humility, she discovers that teaching is less about curriculum and more about connection.

With humor, candor, and deep respect for her students, Airhart captures the messy beauty of a classroom where life experience is as valuable as any textbook. This is the story of how one woman’s third career became her most meaningful—and how a group of young mothers taught her as much about resilience as she taught them about science.