Folks who became classicists or pursued it in college, why did you choose this path and what was your motivation?

Hey everyone. You know, my dad is a historian and when I was growing up he was teaching me a lot about history, especially the antiquity - ancient Greece and Rome. I literally grew under Aristotle's portrait, which was in our living room! I am now 18, and since childhood, I have shifted my interest towards STEM, engineering, physics, etc. But I still do share that passion for history and tangent subjects. Can't say classical studies are my favorite; I am more into more non-traditional subfields of history, and now I start to regret a bit that I didn't dedicate enough time to study the classics because not only do I find it fascinating, it's also called CLASSICS for a reason. All literate people up until the previous century got educated by studying classics or languages, at least. So I want to ask anyone here who's become a classicist or just studied it in university - what motivated you to go for it? Do you think it is still as important to teach people classics today, and what impact do you believe your job as a classicist has on society?