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Bringing Genome Science to Hawai‘i Classrooms
Five years ago, Dr. Johanna Anton arrived to teach science at HPA, bringing with her a wealth of research experience from some of the top laboratories in California. She’s been inspiring HPA students as a chemistry and capstone instructor ever since. Now “Dr. J,” as she is affectionately known, is sharing her skills and passion with even more students and teachers as a fellow for the ‘Āina-Informatics Network. Her efforts will help integrate genome science into classrooms across Hawai‘i Island.
Over the past five years, HPA seniors have set out to answer some intriguing questions in Anton’s capstone class. Do Hawai‘i's corals look different after ocean temperature rise, or are they actually different? Does the secret to food security in Hawai‘i lie in HPA’s Upper School garden? Under Anton's guidance, students grow from novice explorers to skilled investigators capable of self-driven research. Her commitment to their growth recently earned Anton the 2023 Ellbogen Meritorious Teaching Award.
“It is such a privilege and blessing to help train the next group of kids who have the power to impact the world through science,” says Anton. “Their work is so sophisticated and advanced. The truth is: there are maybe a handful of high schools across the country that have this kind of capability. It’s amazing.”
Another truth? Dr. J is as remarkable as the state-of-the-art technology she employs in her classroom.
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Born To Teach
Prior to coming to HPA in 2018, Anton ran the Bay Area Biotechnology Education Consortium in California, a nonprofit that provides educators with support and resources to teach biotech in classrooms. Under her leadership as executive director, the organization won the Biotech Educator of the Year Award in 2014.
So how does someone like Anton, who had a team of 50 scientists and engineers reporting to her when she was working as a research and development engineering manager at DuPont, find her way to HPA? As you can imagine, it wasn’t her only option. But when Anton told her mom that she was considering a career shift into classrooms, her mother’s reply sealed the deal: “It’s about time. You’re finally doing what you were born to do.”
Colleagues have often heard Anton refer to her teaching position at HPA as her “dream job.” A selfdescribed lifelong learner, Anton’s passion for science — specifically at the interface of chemistry and biology — is infectious and inspiring.
“The students in her class leave having learned chemistry, and it’s not like it’s an easy subject,” explains Stephanie McDowell, Upper School science department chair. “Her ability to connect a skill or concept in class to the real world and life after high school is truly impressive.”
As are her goals for HPA. “I want to position HPA to not only be competitive with other successful science programs — I want us to be science leaders here in Hawai’i,” says Anton.
In 2022, Anton was invited to attend Kula Aʻo Kālaiōewe on Oʻahu, a workshop sponsored by the ʻĀina-Informatics Network, an initiative based at ʻIolani School designed to make genome science accessible in Hawaiʻi classrooms. It was a no-brainer that she would attend. “They were using a technique to sequence DNA that I really didn’t know was possible in the classroom,” she explains.
Her motivation to learn was prompted by one of her former students — HPA alumna Haliʻa Buchal ’20 — whose capstone project explored whether more than one species of blue octocoral (Sarcothelia) was developing on Hawaiʻi Island as the result of warmer ocean temperatures.
“Hali‘a was on the verge of getting her DNA sequenced when COVID-19 hit,” says Anton. “While we were off campus, the DNA degraded, and we couldn't finish the project. It's always stuck with me how sad I was that Haliʻa wasn't able to get those results.”
Haliʻa, now a sophomore at Carleton College in Minnesota studying archaeology and geology, recalls how disappointed she felt but how Anton’s enthusiastic support pushed her to keep going.
“I enjoyed it so much that I did a DNA sequencing internship in 2022 at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse,” she says, “using what I learned under Dr. J. I realize now how unusual our experience was — that HPA introduces high school kids to this level of laboratory work.”
REAL SCIENCE … IN HIGH SCHOOL
After attending theʻĀina-Informatics Network summer workshop, Anton was asking herself, “How do we bring this kind of genome science — in a way that impacts Hawaiʻi, and in a way that is place-based — back to HPA?”
She didn’t wait long for the answer. In a matter of weeks, Anton was awarded one of just four fellowships granted by the ʻĀina-Informatics Network, and she joined a cohort of Hawaiʻi teachers with access to professional development and equipment support for molecular biology and genome science.
“ʻIolani’s vision is that HPA will become a hub and resource so that when there is additional interest from Hawaiʻi Island schools, HPA can take leadership and kōkua,” says Anton. Her involvement has become a fundamental component of her chemistry classes and the foundation of her Experimental Lab Science capstone course for the 2022-23 academic year and beyond.
“In my capstone course, students get to do bona fide inquiry-based science — the kind of science where the answers aren't known yet,” she explains. “Typically, as a teacher, you're putting something in front of them that you know has a good chance of working because you’re trying to teach a concept. But with a capstone course, students are asking the questions — and trying to figure out what the experiment is telling them when it doesn't give the expected results. That's how real science works.”
Jump Start On College And Life
Anton is a big believer in the capstone philosophy and the value of providing students with an opportunity to focus on something they care about. Among other benefits, students learn what roles and skills feel like a good fit.
Harley Kell ’20 gained this invaluable insight in Anton’s class. Her capstone project aimed to learn more about the genetics of ‘uala (Hawaiian sweet potato) with hopes of identifying genotypic and phenotypic differences between the plants. ʻUala leaves looked so different across cultivars on campus that she and her fellow capstone partner, Fa-Fa “Gareth” Lin ’20, wanted to see if there were differences on the genetic level as well.
“Dr. Anton is incredibly knowledgeable and made our capstone project possible,” says Harley, who was accepted early decision to Dartmouth. “I had not taken AP chemistry or biology going into senior year, so Dr. Anton helped me learn all of the complex science pieces along the way and guided me through our first labs.”
“When I started the project, I was excited to follow the scientific process, but eventually I realized lab science was not something I enjoyed,” Harley explains. “I was much more interested in indigenous agricultural methods or how sweet potatoes came to Hawaiʻi. Learning how to perform scientific experiments in the lab was incredibly valuable, and Dr. Anton was a great scientist to learn from — but to me, the lab felt tedious compared to the excitement and fulfillment I felt going out into our school garden, visiting local farms, and interviewing community members.”
Harley is now a double major in Native American and Indigenous studies and economics at Dartmouth. She says her capstone experience with Anton was crucial in helping her decide what to pursue after HPA.
As for her capstone partner, Gareth? He had never taken a biology course prior to Anton’s capstone class, and now he’s majoring in biomedical engineering at the University of California - San Diego.
“That's the thing about capstone, right?" says Anton. “It saved Harley from being miserable at college doing a science degree because she knew already that's not where she wanted to end up. And it allowed Gareth to really explore something new and eventually declare it as his college major.”
HIGH-POWERED PARTNERSHIP
When it comes to advanced hypotheses, most students need to build their lab skills — and they need equipment — in order to execute. Anton’s involvement with the ʻĀina-Informatics Network aims to bolster both issues. Her objective is to reach as many students as possible with her place-based genome science curriculum.
“In addition to chemistry and capstone coursework,” she says, “I’ve started an after-school cocurricular program in biotech. Students can opt-in for that as a choice twice a week, to get more experience and exposure.”
The ʻĀina-Informatics Network team from ʻIolani visited the Upper Campus twice last year with their mobile sequencing lab that supports DNA extraction, PCR, gel electrophoresis, and Nanopore MinION sequencing in virtually any classroom — but they say the resources that already exist at HPA dramatically amplify the work that can be achieved.
One such resource, funded by the Will J. Reid Foundation in 2019, is a UV spectrophotometer (NanoDrop One), which measures how much DNA is in a sample. It’s affectionately referred to as “Gabby’s NanoDrop,” thanks to Gabriella Pike ’20, whose capstone project was to learn how to use the machine, build out its protocols, and serve as the lab technician for other student’s projects while also teaching HPA instructors how to operate it.
Since Anton’s inclusion in the ʻĀina-Informatics Network, science department faculty say the machine is being used all the time to quantify the concentration of DNA in samples. It allows students to conduct downstream experiments properly, like DNA sequencing, because it ensures that they’re not testing too much or too little DNA.
“ʻĀina-Informatics Network initiatives now allow us to fully utilize this piece of equipment across multiple capstone projects and in classes. That donation was amazing,” says Anton.
“With our ʻĀina-Informatics Network partnership, it feels like everything is happening in the right direction at the right time,” she continues. “I feel really grateful to be doing what I’m doing and watching these students get excited. We are giving HPA students an opportunity to contribute to work that’s truly meaningful.” •
CITIZEN SCIENCE: ‘ĀINA-INFORMATICS NETWORK
Until recently, it was cost-prohibitive to examine DNA code from a classroom. But as technology has progressed, so has accessibility.
The ‘Āina-Informatics Network, launched by ‘Iolani School in Honolulu, is a citizen-science initiative designed to make genetics and genomics science more available in Hawai‘i high schools. Their overall objective is to help solve Hawai‘i’s unique challenges through place-based curricula. Since its inception in 2017, ‘ĀinaInformatics Network has grown to include more than 2,500 students from private, public, and charter schools across the state. Their Teacher Fellow program ensures that instructors have the right training and tools to make genome science lessons successful, with a focus on developing best practices that are inclusive of Native Hawaiian and Indigenous perspectives.