October 2007

Mrs. Laura Straub is originally from the town of Olean, NY, near the Pennsylvania border. She was inspired by the Holy Spirit at age 15 to ask her parents if she could transfer to a Catholic School, even though her mother taught at the public school she attended and her father was laid off at the time! They made the sacrifice, and as she was repeatedly told, she "blossomed" in that loving environment.

Mrs. Straub graduated from Bethany College (WV), spent a summer immersed in French at Middlebury College (VT) and then got her feet wet teaching 7th grade Latin and Language Arts in upstate NY. She then went on to get her Master's Degree in International Policy Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies (CA). After working at the U.S. Department of Education (on migrant education issues) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (on Bosnia, and other former Soviet Union assistance programs) here in Washington, she decided to stop trying to 'save the world' and start working one-on-one with people. She chose the field of Speech-Language Pathology, and so made her way to Texas for a master's program in Communication Sciences and Disorders at UT Austin. During this time she married and had her son, Jesse.

When the family moved back to the DC area for her husband's career, she was a stay-at-home mom to Jesse, but continued her favorite work -- teaching (!) part-time and volunteering at nursing homes (with Jesse) and Birthright. Mrs. Straub loves her faith, spending time with her son and her friends and family, her ethnicity (she is half-Slovenian and half-Italian), reading, cooking and baking, homemaking, traveling/learning about other cultures, the French language (ask her students), ethnic foods, classical and faith-based music, and is an eternal optimist. She is extremely grateful to be here at St. Ambrose and loves her job!