Springfield teacher named Evangel’s Outstanding Young Alumnus

October 3, 2006
Contact: Chuck Cox, alumni relations director, 865-2815 Ext. 7333.

Springfield, MO — Evangel alumna Ali Traub will be presented with the 2006 Outstanding Young Alumnus Award on Friday, Oct. 13. This is one of several different awards that the Evangel University Alumni Association will be presenting during the Homecoming chapel service.

Traub has taught Spanish for the past eight years at Central High School in Springfield, Mo. She was named the National Spanish Teacher of the Year in 2005, receiving the George I. Sanchez Memorial Award at the National Education Association meeting in Los Angeles in July 2005. While in L.A., she spoke to more than 2,000 teachers on promoting education for the Hispanic population.

She was also one of the five finalists last spring for the 2006 Springfield Teacher of the Year award.

Traub grew up in Argentina, where her parents, Melba and Donald Exley, were missionaries. “I’ve always wanted to reach out to troubled, inner-city kids because of my life as a missionary kid,” she said.

She began an after-school tutoring program and organized ACT prep sessions focused on the needs of Hispanic students, in addition to teaching advanced Spanish in Central High School’s International Baccalaureate program.

Traub graduated from Evangel in 1996 with an education degree. She said she still calls her professors sometimes for advice.