as a child, ross was sent to live with her grandparents in tahlequah, oklahoma, the one-time capitalokee nation, so she could attend school. after high school, ross earned a math degree from northeastern state teacher's college in tahlequah, the successor to the cherokee female seminary, which her great, great grandfather had helped establish. ross taught math and science in cherokee schools in oklahoma and was assigned to the government-run santa fe indian school in new mexico. she was a girls advisor at the boarding school, a native american role model for indian girls separated from their parents and families. gayle: you cannot understate her passion for teaching others, to talking to oer indian kids about science, technology, engineering and math. john during summer breaks, ross took enough classeto earn a masters degree in math in 1938 from what is now the university of northern colorado. at the time, academic and industrial labs employed few women. teaching was one of the only careers in which women like ross, trained in math or sciences, could use their knowledge to earn a liv