Another MBA Teacher Receives Teacher of Excellence Award from AAF

By Nathan Henderson

Photo by Nathan Henderson

Science teacher Bob Nobuhara explores the inside of the classroom’s 840-gallon aquarium. Nobuhara recently received the Alumni Awards Foundation Teacher of Excellence award, making an unprecedented eight consecutive years of award recipients from MBA.

Robert Nobuhara, biosciences and marine biology teacher at Monterey Bay Academy, has been named “Teacher of Excellence” by the Alumni Awards Foundation. Each spring the AAF selects only 10 recipients out of countless teachers nominated across North America for the TOE award.

For the eighth year in a row, a teacher from the academy has received the TOE award. “Although the foundation board’s purpose is to look for excellence in all schools in the North American Division, consistently MBA has nominated teachers who undeniably deserve this recognition,” says Melanie Litchfield, director of the Alumni Awards Foundation. “It’s unprecedented in our 15-year history of this award that one academy has eight consecutive 'Excellence in Teaching' awards.”

“Mr. Nobuhara’s recognition is due in large part to his instrumental role in the renovation and expansion of MBA’s marine biology program, including an 840-gallon tropical salt water tank filled with fish and coral from Fiji, Samoa and the Great Barrier Reef,” explains MBA Principal Tim Kubrock.

“Perhaps through this window, students may see the Creator’s workmanship and come to know Him — that is my ultimate desire,” Nobuhara says. His class activities routinely involve tide-pooling, sea kayaking, and whale watching, as well as extended field trips to Costa Rica or scuba diving in La Paz, Mexico. College professors comment on how well prepared Nobuhara’s former students are in college pre-med courses.

Nobuhara joins the ranks of six TOE award recipients still serving at MBA in the areas of math, science, English and history. Incoming math teacher Chris Morris also received the TOE award in 2003 while serving at Thunderbird Academy. Morris will teach advanced placement calculus, which is an addition to MBA’s enriched curriculum that includes A.P. U.S. history, A.P. English literature, anatomy and physiology, marine biology, graphics technology, art, photography, woodworking, and more.

For more information, go to www.montereybayacademy.org or e-mail info@montereybayacademy.org.