MENLO SCHOOL • SINCE 1915

Tanya Buxton

Upper School Science and Engineering

Science Teacher

Biography

I am back after a wonderful year off living in Malaysia and exploring ten countries in Southeast Asia. Science highlights of the year included getting PADI scuba diving certified and diving in the Gilli islands of Indonesia and the Great Barrier Reef, climbing Mount Kinabalu which is considered the tallest mountain in Southeast Asia at 13,435 feet, seeing the rafflesia flower in bloom in Malaysia which is considered the biggest flower in the world in and only blooms once a year for five days, keeping distance but observing komodo dragons in the Komodo Islands, hiking in the Borneo rainforest and taking river boats to see orangutans, pygmy elephants, proboscis monkeys, crocodiles and many birds including the rhinoceros hornbill all in the wild.

I started working at Menlo School in 1990 as a student teacher and have been a teacher ever since, taking a brief hiatus from Menlo to live in Ireland and work at another school from 2005-2012. I have taught various science courses including Biology, Chemistry, AP Biology, Advanced Topics and Biology and Biotechnology Research.

I earned my undergraduate degree in Biology from Pomona College where I did ecology research and a senior honors thesis on invertebrates in the environmentally unique Salton Sea. I received a Masters in Education and California Teaching Credential from the Stanford Graduate School of Education. Through my teaching and many professional development opportunities and summer workshops, I have developed a keen interest in molecular and cellular biology and biotechnology. I want my students to truly understand how science works and be exposed to the ideas in recent papers and the lab techniques of the most current research in the field.

My personal interests include traveling, cooking, violin and viola playing, gardening, beekeeping, hiking and doing citizen science projects.