This story is part of an ongoing series of profiles by NorthJersey.com celebrating K-12 teachers whose colleagues have recognized them for making a difference to their students and their profession, highlighting their impact in a field that is too often taken for granted.
When the Human Genome Project finished sequencing the genome, Traci Vogel was only in her fifth year of teaching high school biology at Northen Highlands High School in Allendale.
She made sure to weave the development into her lesson.
Keeping up with a subject that has transformed as much as biology — not to mention teaching teenagers in classrooms that have moved from paper gradebooks to the cloud over her nearly three decades on the job — has required many transformations of Vogel.
But one thing hasn't changed for Vogel since she started in the district in 1998.
Come fall — every fall — she's still pumped for the first day of school.
"I'm just as excited every year to start the new year," she told NorthJersey.com and another school year fast approaches. "It's a fresh start every year, and I tell that to my students too," she said.
Vogel is the August 2026 winner of NorthJersey.com's "Nicholas Markets Fresh Grocer Amazing Teacher Award," part of a series celebrating teachers who make the most impact.
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The 28-year veteran of Northen Highlands Regional lives in Secaucus and grew up in Nyack, New York.
Vogel isn't being glib about feeling the start of the new year with a tug in her tummy and a freshman's skip in her heart on a crisp morning.
"I happen to be very lucky because I do feel that way," she told NorthJersey.com. "The job of teaching," especially keeping up with student data and administrative tasks "has increased tremendously," she said, to the point that "teaching is only half the job, but that's the part I love."
The key, she said, is finding out why a lesson or a topic matters to her students, and making that connection to spark their interest. This was one of her first lessons from a principal who observed her as a novice teacher. She knew her content, he told her, but it was boring, he said.
"I was devastated, and he said to me, 'Traci, you know your science, but why should the kids care about this?'"
Vogel took the advice to heart. "He was right," she said. "I lead every single lesson with why kids should care about it, and I make it relevant."
"I want them to be curious about the world and environment, about the planet we all live on, the bodies we all live in," she said.
That's a biology teacher's actual role, according to Vogel, along with the greater goal "of making kids curious about learning, and understanding of other points of view."
Vogel keeps lessons fresh by finding new techniques, discarding approaches that did not work the previous year, collaborating with colleagues and reading journals to keep up with research and new discoveries.
"The new year is another opportunity to try new things," she said. "I'll take notes on a lesson, I collaborate a lot with my team at school my colleagues and friends in biology. We're always trying to think of new activities. If we found a great new lab, and it doesn't work, I'll take notes. I'll say that we'll take it out next year because it's a dud and replace it. And of course, I ask my students for feedback — what's their favorite part?"
"Traci Vogel represents what it means to be a master teacher," said Mike Novak, Northen Highlands director of curriculum and instruction at the high school. "She is never content to simply reuse what worked in the past. Her lessons remain fresh, engaging, and organic because she is constantly reflecting on her practice."
"Year after year," her students have a 100% pass rate in AP Biology, Novak said. "But her impact goes well beyond test scores. At a time when education can sometimes feel increasingly driven by data, outcomes, and numbers, she never loses sight of the fact that at the heart of every classroom is the relationship between a teacher and a student."
Biology and chemistry — particularly molecular biology and the science behind cell communication — have been a passion for Vogel since college, when she chose teaching over a career in medicine.
Vogel credited her parents, her brother and his family, her two cats, and the family she has found among her colleagues at Northern Highlands for the support that brought her to the peace and satisfaction she now enjoys as a teacher, she said — despite the job's daily frustrations.
Vogel said she grew up thinking life was meant to be about marriage and children, yet she has learned over time that there is much more to it.
"I get a lot of joy from being independent and having a career that I'm proud of," she said. "Don't let society pick your path or what's going to make you feel fulfilled."
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Meet August's 'Nicholas Markets Fresh Grocer Amazing Teacher' winner