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Ekon's Idols (Part 6) - rrf_1 - 2026-09-15 Carmen Estrella “Dr. Estrella” – Born in Trujillo, Peru My geology professor at Universidad de Granada My favorite professor at university was Dr. Estrella.  Recently relocated to Granada at the time, she was a visiting professor teaching a special elective in field geology, and I was quick to enroll.  Dr. Estrella really strengthened my enthusiasm for the subject and facilitated several class trips across Spain, the destinations including the sedimentary cliffs of the Basque coast, the karst rock formations in Andalusia, and the volcanic-cratered terrain on Lanzarote not far from my hometown.  Her specialization was geomorphology, a study of why landscapes look the way they do with a particular fascination with volcanic eruptions, landslides, erosion, uplift, and tectonic collisions that create and destroy land in dramatic fashion.  Earth’s most violent forces often create its most beautiful landscapes, and I really felt Dr. Estrella was that mantra’s closest subscriber. She was one of those professors that was abundantly reasonable and hated traditional measures of academic success.  She just wanted the classroom to engage with the topic without the burden of grades looming over the lesson. Of course she took the coursework seriously, but she didn’t make GPA the emotional focal point of university.  As I progress along my professional football career, I become more and more convinced that approaching sports with this same emphasis on passion over metrics leads to more success in the long run.  Growth in anything involves asking the questions, not answering them. When I decided to take football more seriously in the middle of my geology program, Dr. Estrella was very encouraging, which differed substantially from the response of my other professors who saw sport solely as a distraction from my studies.  Dr. Estrella was raised in Peru and taught there for 20 years, but early in her teaching career she took a pause of her own to pursue a passion in traditional dance performance.  I think she saw my opportunity in football with similar excitement, making sure I didn’t get too sole-focused on one endeavor.  “You don't owe the world only one version of yourself” was the advice she gave me, and it has stuck with me ever since.  Even if football didn’t work out (which fortunately it has), Dr. Estrella also helped me realize that the pursuit of sport itself matters, not to be successful and famous, but to experience a challenge of a new disposition.  For her, northern Peruvian dance in the coastal region around Trujillo emphasizes physical discipline, improvisation, and nonverbal communication, and it was a real obstacle improving in these skills, she told me.  Along the way, she also practiced accepting criticism and handling failure in a healthy way.  These experiences carried into life beyond her temporary dance career, and in a similar sense, I’ll be better off for trying to make it as a football player even If Cairo City decides to release me (after, admittedly, a rocky S27 start). Off the field and outside of the classroom, I have maintained a strong relationship with Dr. Estrella over the years.  She holds complicated feelings with relocating to Granada, often missing the traditions and landscapes of home, and we found kinship in that shared experience, even more now as I find myself in the fourth major relocation of my life.  She also strongly believes that scientists have an obligation to communicate their discoveries to ordinary people rather than only to other professionals, and she understands that being smart doesn’t preclude you from being humble.  When I started my nonprofit in educational outreach, she became a quick partner.  Dr. Estrella may have taught me geology, but more importantly she taught me how to have coexisting passions that work for each other, not against each other.