Homeward Bound

Others talk about giving back to their community. But you don’t hear them talking about giving up what they’ve worked so hard to get.

That’s why Rene Trabanino’s career plans are raising eyebrows this week at UCLA, where he graduates Saturday with top honors--and with unusual credentials.

University lab work done by Trabanino has turned him into an expert in the field of protein research using a new technique called electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy.

But Trabanino doesn’t plan to continue with biochemical research at UCLA’s graduate school. And he isn’t signing on with any of those big-bucks biotech firms that are hustling these days to develop and market lucrative breakthrough drugs.

His goal is to land a job as a high school chemistry teacher south of downtown Los Angeles.

“Bell High,” he said flatly. “That’s where I want to go.

“Many people say they want to give back to the community but never do it. They say they’ll wait until they have their PhD or a career and then they’ll do it. I’m not going to do that. I won’t go back if I wait until I get my PhD.”

Trabanino, 22, lives in Bell Gardens with his Guatemalan-immigrant parents. It is a 2 1/2-hour trip to UCLA by public bus, which is how he commuted to class much of the time over the past four years.

In Bell Gardens, Trabanino has worked during college as a Head Start aide, a volunteer baseball coach and as a fund-raiser for a group that raises money for Guatemalan health care. He also is a folk dancer with Grupo Cultural Latinomericano.

In Westwood, he has helped establish the student-run Center for Academic and Research Excellence, aimed at encouraging studies in science fields. He has also spent four years as a volunteer counselor in a peer-mentor program for freshman science students.

It is in the lab that Trabanino--who graduates Saturday with a dual-major degree in applied mathematics and biochemistry--has distinguished himself, however.

Working with the campus-based Jules Stein Eye Institute, Trabanino helped develop a new approach for what educators characterize as “the determination of inter-atomic distances in protein molecules”--work that could help researchers find the cause and eventual cure of diseases.

The results of his protein-structure analysis will soon be published in a scientific journal, according to university officials. They note that Trabanino is one of the few undergraduates to ever be invited to the Protein Society Conference and has also represented the university at the National Research Symposium and the National Biomedical Engineering Symposium.

That work has helped make Trabanino a standout in UCLA’s 6,750-member graduating class. Last month he was named one of three Outstanding Seniors of 1998 by the UCLA Alumni Assn.

“Only a few times in my career have I seen someone at a comparable stage of development with his talent,” said Wayne L. Hubbell, a biochemistry and ophthalmology professor who has taught for more than 25 years at UCLA and UC Berkeley and is associate director of the Jules Stein Eye Institute.

“He has high potential to become a first-rate independent research scientist.”

Many were stunned when Trabanino revealed his plan to return to high school.

“I’m intrigued about him going back to the community,” said Cherie Hubbell, wife of Wayne Hubbell and manager (“and lab mother”) of the biophysical chemistry lab where Trabanino has done his electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy work.

Turning to Trabanino, who was standing nearby, Hubbell added emphatically: “But get your PhD first!”

Classmate Edgar Cuevas, a 27-year-old chemistry major from Montebello, described Trabanino as a “brilliant student” who easily solves chemistry problems that stump others. Cuevas was surprised when his friend told him he is not continuing his research work.

“He’d make a great scientist,” said Cuevas, who plans to join a pharmaceutical company after graduating. “But I respect him for giving back to the community.”

Another classmate, Marco Vasquez, 26, of South-Central Los Angeles, said he has urged Trabanino to move on to graduate school.

“We’ve spoken several times about it. He’s not only an honors student, but he’s very passionate about his work,” said Vasquez, who plans to study biomedical engineering in graduate school.

“These biotech companies are snatching up people with biological and mathematical backgrounds, and you’re looking at $50,000 to start. I’ve been trying to persuade Rene, not that teaching is bad, but that I see a lot of potential in him.”

At Bell High, Trabanino would be looking at a starting salary of about $28,000.

Principal Mel Mares was surprised to hear that one of UCLA’s top seniors covets a spot on the faculty of his year-round school.

“Coincidentally I do have a chemistry class opening. I’d be very interested in talking to him,” Mares said, adding that Trabanino may qualify for an on-the-job program that will yield a permanent teaching license in just two years.

Bell High School, whose 4,540-student enrollment is 98% Latino, is next to Bell Gardens. Trabanino never attended Bell High but said he is familiar with the school because a friend formerly taught there.

Trabanino is a graduate of St. John Bosco High, an all-boys Catholic school in nearby Bellflower.

He credits Bosco High chemistry teacher Robert J. Linares for stimulating his interest in biology.

“I know he’s going to be a great teacher,” said Linares, who teaches chemistry and advanced-placement biology. “But he’s giving up a lot. To be honest with you, I don’t know that I’d give up the opportunities he has--the lucrative offers, the lucrative living. Teachers don’t get paid great money. He’s forfeiting that.”

Linares suggested that Trabanino will have his hands full if he pursues a graduate degree while working as a high school teacher. It took him 4 1/2 years to earn a master’s degree at Cal State Dominguez Hills while teaching at Bosco High, Linares said.

Those at UCLA hope Trabanino returns.

“I have no doubt Rene will come back to get a graduate degree,” said G. Jennifer Wilson, assistant dean of honors and undergraduate programs.

But if he doesn’t, he will probably help steer future generations of inner-city high school students to graduate school, said UCLA mathematics professor Kirby Baker. “Someone who teaches contributes to research too by creating future researchers.”

Trabanino has no second thoughts about his future. He said he has wanted to teach in his neighborhood for years.

“Some people look at me kind of like I’m crazy,” he said. “Maybe later I’ll get my PhD. Maybe later I’ll teach in college.”

But for now he’s going home.

“The place you live reflects what you will become in the future. Not many people in Bell Gardens go to UCLA. My community has given me my future. I want to give something back.”