Byron, or “Doc,” Augustin has 42 years of teaching under his belt, but he didn’t limit his teaching experience to the traditional classroom. Doc, along with hundreds of students, traveled to South Africa, the Yucatan, Costa Rica, Europe, Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands, 25 Maya ruin sites, and beyond over those four decades. He even spent seven years living in the Yucatan after his retirement in 2010. After a bout with cancer and being stuck indoors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Doc can’t wait to start traveling again.

“The goal has always been to learn something new every day,” Doc said. “No matter how much money you have, it can all be taken away. No one can take your education.”

Doc grew up learning in a one-room schoolhouse in rural Nebraska. As one of only ten students, he got to know his teacher very well. He attended high school in Juniata, Nebraska, a village of only 427 inhabitants. His science teacher made difficult concepts easy to understand and had an unrelenting dedication to help poor, rural, farm kids go to college. After high school, Doc enrolled at a Presbyterian liberal arts college located in Hastings, Nebraska. After completing his first geography class, he knew he wanted to be a geography teacher.

He taught at two different universities before settling at Texas State University for 32 years. He fell in love with the Texas State students, many of whom came from lower economic status similar to his own experience.

"The students were very respectful to cultures they had not visited. They are the most wonderful students I have ever been associated with,” Doc said. “They are so adaptable, and fun to teach.”

Given his years of travel, Doc has plenty of stories where unexpected events went down. One of these happened in Costa Rica, when their trip to Limon got unexpectedly delayed because of the weather. They ended up stranded in the jungle, took a boat to a settlement of undocumented Jamiacains, and played soccer in the rain with them. Watch this interview to hear Doc tell this story to Stelos founder, Bill Poston.

Over the decades of study abroad trips, Doc revisited many of the same locations and noticed changes. Impoverished Mayas were still living in stick huts, but now they have cell phones. Sites that used to be overgrown with wildlife are now sparse.

“They’re not positive changes,” Doc said. “The population is growing rapidly and the Earth’s resources are being depleted. If we don’t change, our planet is going to have an irreversible catastrophe”

While plenty has changed since Doc Augustin started taking students on trips, he still sees an extraordinary amount of value in travel and education. Here are a few of his standards for making sure trips are enriching and safe:

Find a place with reasonably priced lodging, transportation and food that is safe
Make sure there’s adequate medical facilities available
The location should have a rich physical and cultural environment

The Yucatan was one of those places that checked all the boxes for him and Texas State students. They learned about stark cultural differences, the history of Maya and Spanish conflict, and were able to see the tropical environment in person. Location aside, Doc finds the most value in research and education of any culture.

“Never quit learning, and use what you learned to make the world a better place to live,” Doc said.

Memory Lane: Stories Abroad with Doc Augustin