Ms. Trafton: The Circuitous Journey

The Abstract

Ms. Trafton teaches high school science here at Explore, particularly chemistry, biology, and her major—medicine. When thinking of Ms. Trafton’s classes, much of the student body tends to describe them as “difficult,” or “demanding.” But upon actually taking the classes she teaches—students often come away with a new appreciation for a range of subjects; from evolutionary biology, to the inner workings of the cardiovascular system, even if such admiration was hitherto unexpressed. The difficulty of Ms. T’s classes—particularly her majors—become something students embrace. Their challenge facilitates a seemingly unconventional sense of comfort in failure, and a motivation to push forward towards mastery. In a way that remarkably mirrors that of Ms. Trafton’s reflection on her own success, her students find achievement by discovering their own circuitous pathways, undeterred—inspired, even—by initial setbacks. It’s clear, then, that Ms. Trafton’s classes serve to do more than just pass students. They equip students with hard-earned skills needed to thrive—not only in the classroom, but life as a whole. This became abundantly clear to us after sitting down with Ms. T on the 26th of September, where she was happy to divulge her eagerness to inspire  students’ yearning for discovery and true understanding. She believes this effort to be her part to play in changing the world for the better, through empowering the next generation of scientists. Along with imparting immense knowledge in medicine, biology, and chemistry, she encourages her little scientists to be quite well-read, leading the Book and Tea club. 

During our interview with Ms. T, we wanted to gain further insight into her multidisciplinary background. She told us about her first job as the ‘dishwasher’ at the hydrology lab of the University of Arizona, and had the scars to prove it. We also learned of her work as an ecologist, monitoring endangered species. As Ms. T spoke of these experiences, she accentuated the lifelong resilience and adaptability that earned her such fascinating jobs: “My life has really been a story of sometimes going with the flow and ending up in unexpected places, but other times really digging in and just not accepting the path that was chosen.”

Despite some seriousness to our conversation, Ms. Trafton’s warmth and humor shone through too. She expressed her love for music—from Pink Floyd to Dolly Parton—as well as her other fun interests: gardening, household projects, and writing—to name a few. Our interview wouldn’t have been complete without the tender moments she shared about the unique joys of teaching—especially watching her students grow. “And here, it's so cool to be able to see you guys move through the stages and get excited about the different milestones that you're reaching … Of course I want you to go do great things, but man, I'm gonna miss you guys.”

The Transcript

Leon: When did you put on a lab coat for the first time?

Trafton: Okay, so I think I was 16 or 17, when I got my first job at the University of Arizona, and that job was in geology—hydrology lab—doing hardcore isotope chemistry, and that's where I got all these scars.

Zephyr: How do you get scars from that? 

T: Just the acid burning me. Yeah, I was the dishwasher. That's the first job you get. And you have to wash glassware sometimes with really hardcore acid. And these* are from sulfuric acid, chromate solution, and nitric acid.

*She pointed to some of her scars.

Z: That's kind of funny, because it's like you have the typical dishwasher first job, and yet it entails way more. 

T: Exactly, a little bit riskier, more exciting, yeah

Z: So have your other scientific adventures required a lab coat, and you've just continued wearing them while teaching here?

T: No, actually most of my professional work was as an ecologist or endangered species monitor, so most of it required a backpack. Lots of hiking and very long measuring tapes and meter sticks, things like that.

Z: What is the most fascinating or cool organ in your opinion?

T: Oh, I love kidneys. I think you guys know how much I love kidneys. They're the bomb. We literally can't live without them. They protect us from so many things. They regulate our heartbeat—I mean they're just remarkable. And I think I like them so much because they're underappreciated. I always like to root for the underdog. And everybody knows how important the heart and the lungs and the brain are, right? But people just pass by kidneys, and, man, they are remarkable. And the chemistry that happens in there is super cool. 

Z: So it seems like they have a pretty all encompassing function too. 

T: They connect to every system. They really are central, and people don't see them as such. If the kidneys fail, everything gets destroyed, and it doesn't take long.

L: Have you always envisioned yourself becoming a teacher?

T: I have always been teaching. I don't know if I thought that I would be a teacher for my job. But in every job I had, every step along the way, I was always “the teacher”. If I were asked “Alea, we need somebody to train these people how to do this.” Then, I instantly became the manager, the boss, or the trainer. In college I was tutoring. In high school, I was helping—except in math (people had to help me). But I knew I wanted to do something that was meaningful and that would help people. I thought initially about medicine, then I thought I would save the planet. And then it occurred to me that the best way to save the planet was to teach the next generation all the cool things that I know, and help them figure out how to solve problems. So I ended up being a teacher. There are tons of teachers in my family as well, so I was always around teachers. So it wasn't foreign to me at all, but it wasn't the intentional path.

Z: But you sorta found yourself gravitating towards it regardless?

T: Yeah, I'm a natural kind of teacher, like my mom says it's my vocation. No matter where I am. 

Z: What is your favorite musical album and why is it your favorite? 

T: I can’t pick one favorite musical album. That's not fair.

L: You can give us three or just a brief list.

T: I love, love Pink Floyd’s The Wall. I'm a huge Pink Floyd fan, as you can tell*. When I got here—I was listening to the cure this morning; I could easily pick one of their albums. Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin came on. I could easily pick one of their albums. But actually, I think I’d go with Fool In The Rain by Led Zeppelin—I don't know if that's the album title. Actually, I think that the album is called Symbols. It's one of my favorites. Man, there's so many. I don't really think of more modern music in terms of albums, because now we get everything by song. So I probably wouldn't even know what albums newer things are on. But from, like, the older, classic rock, 80s stuff. Those are up there. Alice in Chains. I could pick one of theirs. Yeah. I mean, so Godsey came on this morning. Love it. The Ramones are fantastic.

*She pointed to a Pink Floyd themed coffee mug she had on her desk.

Z: So you're more of a playlist person? 

T: Oh, for sure, I want to listen to a bunch of different kinds of things. And I really do like everything from Dolly Parton, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley, to like hardcore punk rock and ska. I was listening to Pantera this morning, so it's very difficult.

L: If you were to redesign the human body in any way, what would you change?

T: Your knees are terrible. I would love to fix those. I have horrible, terrible knees. People have a lot of back problems too. It'd be great to be able to fix that. And you know what would be even better? Regeneration. If I can make it so the broken parts would fix themselves, then it doesn't matter, right? The knees can be terrible, your back can be terrible, and it doesn’t matter. So if I can only change one aspect of the human body, I think regenerative power would be the bomb and kind of just fix everything. Oh, my knees are bad. Regrow. Cool, brand new.

Z: What are your primary hobbies outside of Explore or work?

T: My primary hobbies—well, I love remodeling and building house projects of constructed nature, inside or outside. Doesn't matter. Those are fun. I enjoy gardening as well, if it's not too hot. I also write a ton, like a journal—I write poetry, too. I used to really like cooking, but now that I've been doing it non-stop for meals a day for two kids for 14 to 16 years, I'm kind of burnt out a little bit. I still like it a bit, but it's become more work. 

L: Are there any particularly special moments in which students have taught you something?

T: Oh my gosh, you guys teach me stuff all the time. Just this morning, a student came to me to have a conversation with me. She had asked a question, and I didn't think it was a serious question, and I made some comments that made her feel really bad. So having an opportunity to reflect and grow in, you know, remembering and recognizing that the words I choose really have an impact and unintended consequences. That was just today, you know. So I think if you're looking for the lessons and you're willing to take them, they're everywhere. Students come to me with all kinds of crazy, cool information. I probably can’t even remember all of the stuff that they have taught me over the years about physics or chemistry. Somebody was just talking about gallium a couple days ago in my chem class, and how it's a non-toxic mercury alternative. I didn't know that before. And then in the medicine classes, you guys bring up great questions that make me think and look stuff up, so I'm constantly learning new information. 

L: We actually got a very similar response from Mr. Robinson about how the intention of the words that you choose with students can, yeah, have a really big impact.

T: Yeah, we forget that and I've had other colleagues tell me that when they start to get too comfortable with their class, the quality and the intentionality of the teaching starts to slip, and that's never good. So it's this constant balance, right? Like I want us to be a unit in here—I want us to be a community. I want there to be a high comfort level, so that students will take risks in my class and not be afraid to be wrong, or probe some unknown thing, which is sometimes scary for people. So you want them to be comfortable, but if we're too comfortable, I start talking to you like I talk to my buddies, and you're my students—you’re children. The relationship needs to be slightly more elevated than that, or at least more intentional. I need to be more mindful. And so it's good to remember. It's unfortunate that a student had to, you know, feel negatively for me to get the reminder, but it's always good to be reminded.

Z: What is your most unpopular opinion? Why do you feel this way? 

T: My most unpopular opinion probably has to do with test anxiety. So lots and lots of students come and they say, "Oh, but I have test anxiety. I need x. I need y.” And I believe that test anxiety is just you revealing to me that you didn't study. That’s probably my most unpopular opinion in this setting. All of us—when we’re evaluated—have some level of anxiety, but the better prepared you are, the more confident you feel. That little bit of anxiety that we all feel when we're evaluated is never going to go away. That's a human thing. There's nothing I can do in my classroom environment or in a work environment to remove all of your anxiety. If you think you're going to walk through life without anxiety, you're mistaken. That's an unrealistic expectation on your part. And your teachers still have it. When the principal is in here, we're having anxiety, you know, so it's just, it's a fact of life, yeah?

L: Red or green? 

T: Christmas. 

Z: So does that mean you include both in a dish, or do you just enjoy both generally? 

T: No, I want both on it all the time. If I can have my druthers*. If I can't, it really depends. Whatever's open in my fridge wins. If I'm out. It's always, always Christmas.

*A person's preference in a matter.

Z: What do you consider to be some of the most important advancements in science in the last century?

T: Vaccines are hugely important. That's the last century. Oh my gosh, hugely important. Antibiotics are also so important—and we're losing those, which is terrifying to me. We just had that blood drive—blood transfusion and blood storage and blood donation have been developed within the last century. But your question was science, and those were all medicine. I mean, man, almost everything I know in my life has come about in the last 100 years, except for primitive water filtration, basic architecture, building materials, those kinds of things. Those are older, but wow. I mean we’ve made so many advancements in how we travel, how we protect ourselves from natural disasters, how we protect ourselves from the environment, like sunscreen. But in terms of bettering human life and reducing human suffering, those three really come to mind.

L: I think Zephyr told this to me. It was something that he learned in your class, and it was that the average human temperature has actually been going down since antibiotics were invented.

T: They figured it was a degree per century. There are some really freaky things that are happening as we make it easier for ourselves to live in the world. But do we want more than half of babies to die before they're five? I don't think so. No, so we'll take it. 

Z: That's also like creating a host of fungal issues, right? 

T: Yeah. So fungus is going to be the next big frontier. Mark my words.

L: What is most crucial for students to know as they transition into the adult world?

T: You are responsible for yourself—and to a lesser degree—you're responsible for your community. We also have this notion of perfectionism—which I see with my own kids, and a lot of my students—that if I am not perfect, I'm not going to have opportunities, and my life is going to be somehow diminished. I think one of the most important things that has guided me in my life is this: where there's a will, there's a way. It's cliche for a reason. If you want a thing, you will get that thing, even if you have to go around sideways in some circuitous path to get there. If you want to go to Harvard, you don't necessarily need a 4.0. Maybe you go to a junior college and you get an associate's degree, and then you get a job at Harvard, and then you start taking classes, and then they admit you, and you get your degree from Harvard. There is a way to accomplish the things in your life that you want. 

T: There is almost never an unreachable, insurmountable obstacle, almost never. I mean, of course, there are some, right, but don't accept—no, don't accept—that the door is closed to you, because it almost never is totally closed. 

Z: If you had to say, what are some of your favorite memories as a teacher at explorer Academy?

T: Oh, man, I love—don't print this*. No, I know you will. I love hanging out with my medicine classes so much. And something I've really enjoyed now that I've been here a while is watching my eighth graders I had my first year here grow up. Now they're 10th graders. That has been so cool. They're all taller than me. Now they're grown up. They're driving. I saw one of them get out of his car this morning in the parking lot. That, to me, is magic. That's the cool part that I didn't get in college, and that I like here a lot. In college, your students come—maybe you have them twice, maybe in two different classes—and they're gone. Unless they need a letter or something, you generally don't see them, especially in community college, because they're only there for a couple years anyway. So those relationships are intense, but they're brief, you know? And here, it's so cool to be able to see you guys move through the stages and get excited about the different milestones that you're reaching, and watch you achieve them. I'm glad I didn't get to go to graduation last year, because I would have been crying. This year I'm gonna be bawling, you know? It's bittersweet. Of course I want you to go do great things, but man, I'm gonna miss you guys.

*We did :)

L: Anyways, now to stifle this moment entirely. If you were a super villain, what would your evil plans be?

T: If I was a super villain, I would be a super villain for justice. So I have always had like this avatar for the way I see myself: a knight with a giant Broadsword. So I think if I was a super villain, it wouldn't really be that villainous. It would be like destroying evildoers, you know, I would love that. I'm smashing corporations, blowing up factories, freeing animals. As a kid, I always wanted to go to the pet stores and liberate all the animals, you know, things like that. It's hard for me to imagine myself being villainous.

Z: So maybe you’re  not a heroic paragon, where you're like, super good all the time, but you still uphold justice.

T: I would be demolishing, exploding, and destroying for justice. 

Z: What is your favorite work of writing, fictitious or not? 

T: I love 1984 by George Orwell, and I love Dune [Frank Herbert]. Those are my two absolute favorites. Love it. And then assorted poems, but there are too many of those to list in terms of things that people would know—so those are my big two. I love them. And then if you want to read something nonfiction that's good, I’d recommend The Song of the Dodo [David Quammen].

Z: What is your opinion on the Dune films? 

T: I am a Dune enthusiast, right? So almost anything Dune I love, I love the soundscapes of the new movies. They're so intense and so rich. I love it. My son's been throat-singing. It’s pretty cool. But my favorite, favorite film adaptation, was the long version from the 80s, which you can find almost nowhere. I don't like the shorter version. I like the long version. It was the eight hour one. It was like a mini series in four parts. It was a long time ago, so I don't remember how I watched it. That was my favorite because it was the closest to the book. I think you used to be able to get it on VHS, children. Those were these big things that you put in a machine then played from a tape. Yeah, no digital. But I'm a Dune enthusiast—like the flying crafts and the worms in these new ones are awesome. Love them.

L: How much place do you think the government or doctors should have in deciding what medical treatments people are required to get?

T: Very little. The only time that I think there should be any kind of requirement, really—now I haven't fully thought out this answer, so allow me if there's caveats I'm missing—is if you are a danger to someone else. If something that you have is transmissible to someone else and can kill them, then I think there could be some requirement—but not necessarily that you have to be treated—but that if you're not going to be treated, that you can't be in public. Now, with things like HIV and stuff, when I was growing up, there were people who were really afraid, and we can't let people's fears dictate those things. It has to be based on actual medical evidence, because people with HIV are not a danger to people in ordinary, public settings. So given that, you know, there’s few situations that I think should require treatment. I mean, I can't really think of a scenario in my mind, where I would be comfortable with the government mandating someone to do something or take some drug, when it is only affecting them as an individual. Maybe, if it's a child and they can't make a choice, there's a gray area there. Or you know, if it will prevent the kid from dying, maybe we can require it. But yeah, not much should be required of people.

Z: Which scientist—alive or dead—do you look up to most?

T: Rosalyn Franklin. She's my hero, and she gave her life. She didn't get the Nobel Prize. I mean, there are probably others that I look up to, but she's the one I love to cite because she was just this beautiful young woman and she reminds me a lot of my grandmother. For some reason, both her and my step grandmother had breast cancer, and they both died from it, so I just feel a real kinship to her. And the men who got the Nobel Prize could have never done the work they did had she not made the first images of DNA. And I just like that there's a kind of romanticism and a poetry to the story, in a way, even though it's like a tragedy, right? She was just an incredibly bright, beautiful young lady, and really gave us some powerful, powerful information.

L: And she gave up everything in return. 

T: Yeah, absolutely, 100% sacrifice for humanity.

L: What would you title your biography? If you have a real one? 

T: I need to come up with that. My mom's been telling me that I need to write the story of my life. I can't write it while they're alive though. I don't know what I would title it. It’d have to be something about the unintended path, or like rowing upstream. My life has really been a story of sometimes going with the flow and ending up in unexpected places, but other times really digging in and just not accepting the path that was chosen or should have been mine. I'm a high school dropout. I got a master's degree. I've had some of the coolest jobs in science that you can have, some of the most competitive jobs that you can get. I really feel like every step of the way, I've done what I wanted and it worked out. I don't know how that happened. 

Z: So a lot of it was a combination of being resilient, but also adaptive? 

T: Just super, super bendy. Like a poem I wrote when I was like 13: it was about being like a reed or a tree in the wind, and just like refusing to break. You know how some branches just bend and bend, and they don't snap, and the wind is gone, the storm is over, and they pop back, something like that. 

Z: If you could time travel, would you go in the past or the future?

T: I can't do both? 

Z: No, you gotta pick one.

T: Yikes. Part of me really wants to go back and see North America before people. Because I'm an ecologist. New Mexico used to be grassland—how crazy cool would that be? But in the future, I'm not gonna make it. And I wonder, are we ever gonna get the Sci-Fi future that we've been promised, and will it be utopia or dystopia? Man, I guess if I can only do one—do I get stuck there? Can I come back?

L: You can come back to the present.

T: I'll go to the future because it's unknown, right? You have no clue what it’ll be like so it's the greatest exploration. Can I go multiple times? Or I have to just pick one point in the future.

Z: You can go forward in the future to as many points and as much as you want, but you just can't go further back to the past than the point you started from.

T: Then I might travel into the future at different intervals, like 50, 100, 200, 500 years into the future, just to see how long it takes us to figure things out.

L: You could see which universe death theory is true, as well.

L: For a final question: if you were a student here, in which other teacher’s class would you like to enroll, even for just a day?

T: Oh man, so many. I hear awesome things about Ms. Sanchez; I’d love to take a law class and do some mock trials. That would be super fun. And Ms. Dooner gets incredible art out of her students, and I’m terrible at art, so that’d be really good. Mr. P’s classes—I’d love to learn to play some drums. So many of my colleagues seem like they have really interesting classes, and I still don’t even know most of their names. But the philosophy majors would be fun. I hear awesome things about Mr. Ayres-Klarer. I’d like to take a few of his classes. This was my problem in college—I get interested in so many things. I would take anything that would interest me, and I ended up with so many minors. It was really hard to finally be like okay pick something and graduate, because it's this great world where you can sample all these different things. And with our model here you can sample them in 22 days; I’d probably cycle through everybody. 

T: But those are the ones that I’ve heard about that immediately I know I would have to take. That’s not even one whole term schedule though.

Z: But your other main academic interest is philosophy right?

T: Yeah, so those majors would be enjoyable.