A Love of Geology Found at SBCC

Laura Branch, Teacher of the Year

Laura Branch, the 2025 Santa Barbara County Teacher of the Year, is as excited in the classroom today as when she began teaching 25 years ago. | Credit: Courtesy

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When high school teacher Laura Branch graduated from San Marcos High School in 1989, she didn’t know what was next. A definitive path from high school to college wasn’t in the cards for her. For starters, she “didn’t know how to study,” let alone for the formidable SATs. She also didn’t possess the grades to attend a four-year university, nor did she know how to apply to one. Fundamentally, she lacked the guidance, since no one in her family had attended college. “And so I was like, ‘Well, I just graduated, so what else am I supposed to do?’” she recalls thinking.

Fortunately, her decision to attend Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) undoubtedly proved to be where she was meant to land. At SBCC, she fell in love with geology — one of the science subjects she teaches at Ernest Righetti High School (ERHS), where she has taught for the past 25 years. Recently, she was named the 2025 Santa Barbara County Teacher of the Year. “Getting awards like this tells me that I’m doing a good job with my students,” she reflects.

When sitting in her SBCC astronomy lab, studying the stars and their alignments, she first realized that science was what she was meant to study. In 1991, she participated in SBCC’s geology program and went on the Geologic Field study trips offered by SBCC. Some of these trips included excursions to the American West’s most primitive landscapes, including Death Valley, the San Andreas Fault, and the Sierra Nevada. Sitting on the San Andreas Fault and learning about its history and intricacies, she felt a sense of purpose. “This is it,” she decided.

And so it was. After three and a half years at SBCC, Branch transferred to San Diego State University, where she continued her geology education and, in 1996, received a Bachelor of Science degree in geology. After graduating, she again wondered what her next step would be. At the time, a teachers’ strike was happening in San Diego, and one of her professors took the opportunity to spotlight the honorable career. “It’s either that or move to Texas and go into petroleum geology,” Branch pondered.

She found herself back in Santa Barbara, receiving her master’s degree in education from UCSB. Shortly thereafter, she was offered a teaching job at Ernest Righetti High School. She’s been there ever since.

Students in one of Branch’s science classes at Ernest Righetti High School in Santa Maria examine fossils in the classroom. | Credit: Courtesy

She was in her classroom after a long school day when we spoke on the phone. She didn’t sound exhausted, as one might expect. Instead, she sounded pretty upbeat. Twenty-five years is a long time spent in one place, and I was not the first person to ask her what kept her there. “Why wouldn’t I?” she offered. At Righetti, she has fostered a learning environment that feels more like a close-knit community than a high school classroom. She wants her students to look forward to learning in her class rather than dread it.

She does this by earning her students’ respect, which means diligently paying attention to their responses. Branch noted that the average kid can only hold their concentration for about “half their age in minutes,” she says. “So if you think about the fact that these kids are only 16, they’ve really only got eight minutes.”

Credit: Courtesy
Credit: Courtesy

If Branch notices their attention veering, she has to reel them back. She changes the lesson by putting on a cartoon or telling them a story. Sometimes, she tells stories about her geology excursions while at SBCC, encouraging the students to consider attending the college if they hope to follow a similar path to hers. “So they connect with me,” she said. “They feel more comfortable. And then, boom, we get right back into whatever we’re learning about, and they don’t realize they’re learning it.”

At SBCC, Branch learned basic study practices that helped her succeed in her classes. She found study groups with other students who showed her how to outline and organize her material. “And then, as I learned more and more how to be an effective student, then my GPA started going up,” she recalled. Now, she creates study guides for her students based on the methods she used at SBCC.

Branch credits her time at SBCC for shaping her teaching philosophy and helping her provide her students with the same top-notch education she received. She teaches three classes at ERHS: Concurrent Physical Geology through Alan Hancock College, AP Environmental Science, and two sections of regular Chemistry of the Earth Systems. She enjoys teaching all these courses, but geology holds a special place in her heart. “Not only do I see the big picture, but now, for me, most of my knowledge that I bring into my geology class is from Santa Barbara City College geology,” she says. “Because it was just so well planned out.”

This article was paid for by Santa Barbara City College. For more information on Santa Barbara City College and the hundreds of programs they offer, visit sbcc.edu or (805) 965-0581. If you are an SBCC alumni please join SBCC Alumni Connect at sbccfoundation.org/alumni.