A Life in Maps: Tracy Roth’s Semester at Sea Story, From SAS to a Classroom Map to Running the World
When Tracy Roth sailed on Semester at Sea in the fall of 1985, she didn’t initially know she was mapping the path of a life she would spend decades following, one amazing challenge at a time.
Tracy was a senior at San Diego State University, majoring in family studies with an emphasis in child development, when she sailed. Having grown up in a small, quiet corner of Southern California, she suddenly found herself surrounded not only by countries she had never seen, but by fellow students from nearly every U.S. state, including places she realized she didn’t truly know at all.
That realization came into full view during the voyage’s final port in Spain. Sitting with another graduating student from Pennsylvania, Tracy had an unexpected moment of clarity. Despite having just traveled to many ports all over the world, neither of them could confidently draw a map or name each state of their own country, the United States. “That was the moment I told myself I was going to become a teacher, and every student who ever came through my classroom would know and be able to label all fifty states,” Tracy said.
She has kept that promise.
For the last 39 years, Tracy has taught elementary school in San Diego County. Thousands of fourth- and fifth-grade students have now passed through her classrooms, and every single one has learned to label the full U.S. map from memory before leaving her classroom. This has remained important to Tracy because, for her, geography was never just about memorization. Rather, it’s about awareness and understanding how the world fits together: lessons she first absorbed while at sea.
Beyond her dedication to teaching youth, Tracy remained deeply involved with Semester at Sea long after her voyage. Year after year, she hosted Semester at Sea students in her classroom, building a giant map bulletin board and following their journey across the globe (including when her son Sasha Peranteau sailed in Fall 2018). When letters arrived from ports around the world, her classroom came alive with curiosity and questions. Notably, several of her former students later went on to sail themselves (she estimates at least five have gone on to join a SAS voyage). Over the years, Tracy was also an alumni coordinator for San Diego and a dedicated program ambassador.
Beyond her work in the classroom and on behalf of Semester at Sea, Tracy has embarked on another major path to include on her “map of life” – marathon running. At age 40, after the unfortunate loss of her mother to cancer, Tracy began running. At first, this was simply to cope and to heal. Eventually, Tracy discovered something: she was very good at running. So good, in fact, that what began as a single run turned into a marathon race. She ran her first marathon (the San Diego Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon) and missed qualifying for the Boston Marathon – a pinnacle experience for most marathon runners – by just 17 minutes. So, Tracy began training intentionally, returned the following year, and qualified for Boston on her next attempt – an achievement many runners chase for a lifetime.
Keeping true to her theme of “filling in the map,” Tracy went on to complete marathons in all 50 U.S. states. Over time, each race became another lesson brought back to her students. She’d return to her classroom with her marathon medals in hand, challenging her students to identify the state she’d just run through. Correct answers earned a chance to wear the medal for the day, which quickly became a coveted prize for her students.
Now, 22 years after she began her running journey, and with more than 140 marathons and 19 Ironman races under her belt, Tracy has just finished her most ambitious challenge yet: the World Marathon Challenge. An extremely ambitious challenge, this consisted of running with 59 others from all over the world in seven marathons, on seven continents, in seven consecutive days.
The journey began in Antarctica, flying in on a cargo plane with her fellow challenge runners. They then journeyed to Africa, Australia, Asia, Europe, South America, and North America, running a full marathon each day, sleeping on planes, and moving forward with persistence.
“It’s really not about racing,” Tracy said. “It’s about moving forward and believing you can keep going, one step at a time.”
To fund the challenge, Tracy raised tens of thousands of dollars through her own efforts, including community fundraisers, personal outreach, and sheer determination. She crossed the finish line on February 6, knowing that whatever comes next, she’s already proven something to herself: belief and following the path you’ve set for yourself will always continue to create momentum.
This notion is in line with Tracy’s message to SAS alumni as they continue to follow their own maps of life: “Don’t wait to do the things you want. Don’t wait for retirement to keep seeing the world. Don’t wait for the perfect time. The world is your campus. Go live in it now.”
From a hand-drawn map on a ship four decades ago to traversing continental maps with global marathon challenges today, Tracy Roth’s life is a reminder that we can chart our own paths, live with determination, and change the world with forward action.
