Graduate Profile: Alice Sova-Stoneback
Alice Sova-Stoneback ’04 first studied French as a high school student. Now, she’s back in high school teaching it.
“French is my first love,” she says. “My grandmother is a native of France, and I still have immediate family who live there. Being a French major was a great way to apply this background.”
Alice Sova-Stoneback ’04 and her husband, Matt
Stoneback ’04 sit in the Stoneback Multimedia Studio
in the renovated Eddy Music Center.
Sova-Stoneback, who also was an English minor at Alma College, is currently preparing to take her students to France. Because the trip will be her fifth time visiting, she’s especially excited to share the immersion experience.
“I love the culture, the food, the language!” she says. “We conjugate verbs in the classroom, and then the words come to life standing on the streets in France. I like seeing the language become personal to my students.”
Growing up in Alma, Sova-Stoneback admits she was “that kid in high school who said she would never come to the College.” Despite applying to other colleges, however, a number of things convinced her to rethink this stance.
“When I received the Trustees Honors Scholarship, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity,” she says. “I realized that the Alma College experience is not the same as living in Alma. It was nice to be able to ‘go away’ to college, but still have the conveniences of being at home.”
