A young Jacob Buxton steps onto the public bus ready to go research chimps in the library’s periodical room after a long day of memorizing different animals exploring creeks and reading encyclopedias. All of these interests follow him to his adult life as he becomes a biology teacher and the sponsor of the marine biology club here. 

Buxton’s interest in biology started as a love for dinosaurs. He began researching and memorizing everything he could about them. When he learned everything he could about dinosaurs, he moved on to primates, then dogs, trees and fish. The research overlapped with Buxton’s love for the outdoors. He would spend his days exploring the woods and streams outside. “We had a set of encyclopedias in our house and I studied them all the time. I just loved it,” Buxton said. 

Buxton recalls watching a Jane Goodall nature documentary that studied the behavior and social structures of the chimpanzees at the Gombe Stream in Tanzania. This prompted another string of research. Buxton would ride the city bus to the public library where he would read and research anything and everything about chimpanzees. 

Stream fishing and keeping fish tanks were other activities Buxton enjoyed as a kid, and still does, which inspired his current interest as the sponsor of the marine biology club. He currently has two fish tanks in his basement with the main one filled with African Cichlids. He also had one in his classroom containing minnows caught by senior Dylan Safai in a local creek. “I love the water too. I swam as a kid and later got into SCUBA diving,” Buxton said.  

As a co-coach to the cross country team here, Buxton also has an interest in running. He first got into running while nearing the end of college and found a way to connect his love of running with his love of exploration and the outdoors. Running in new cities and trails allows Buxton to explore new places, learn his way around towns and truly appreciate nature. Buxton also got into track and field and found himself going to all kinds of events and competitions. “I went to all of the track and field events at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics,” Buxton said. 

Coaching is a big part of Buxton’s life. He gets to interact with students in a way that is completely different from teaching in a classroom or interacting with students during school. “He is pretty laid back unless you are disruptive and not following the rules,” freshman Reva Gargi said. 

Buxton enjoys spending time with students outside of school and seeing them progress and improve in running. “My favorite things are probably going on road runs with the kids and talking to them about sports, their classes, their pets, whatever. And also just seeing the kids develop as runners and the confidence and pride that comes with that,” Buxton said.