Teacher Traci Sumner said she bristles when she hears others make disparaging remarks about her alma mater.</p><p>"Parents sometimes tell their kids 'you can't graduate from San Luis High School,' or 'you won't be able to find a good job if you get a diploma from there," she said. "I stand up and say yes you can. I did. I'm living proof."</p><p>Sumner, a 1992 graduate of the alternative school, has taken the experience and lessons she learned from being a non-traditional student to the next generation of underserved pupils.</p><p>For her effort and continued success Sumner was named Los Ba&#241;os Unified School District's teacher of the year, she was also one of eight finalists for the Merced County Office of Education's top honor.</p><p>Even though the Teacher of the Year award was given to a band instructor, Sumner said she was honored by the recognition and hopes her selection will shine a bright light on alternative education.</p><p>"Alternative education is often pushed to the back burner, it should be heralded" she said. "Every kid we graduate (was) a potential drop out."</p><p>Sumner said the education her students receive at San Luis High is the same as Los Ba&#241;os High School's, just more flexible, more fitting for those students who don't fit in traditional schools.</p><p>"I feel like I have to face every student that I meet with a blank slate," she said. "I have to figure out what each student needs, it could be this kid needs a listener, this kid needs an advocate."</p><p>Principal John Lupini praises Sumner for making her students believe that they can be successful and offering herself up as a prime example.</p><p>"When students tell you that you don't understand what its like, she says I was you and look at me now," Lupini said.</p><p>Once a GATE student, Sumner, 36, would speed through novels and be able to debate with her teachers but she eventually became bored with school and dropped out.</p><p>Sumner said she thought she was content working a full-time job until one day she had an epiphany while watching television news with a group of friends.</p><p>"We were watching the Berlin Wall come down and I said 'would you look at that, 50 years of history is going down,' and they were like 'what?' they had no idea what I was talking about and I made up mind to (go back to school.)"</p><p>Sumner made up two years of school in one at San Luis High and went on to Merced College, and California State University, Stanislaus where she received bachelor's and master's degrees. She is currently working on a doctorate degree.</p><p>She said every time she would complete an academic milestone she would go back to celebrate with San Luis High School staff.</p><p>"Every time I would earn a degree I would come by and one day Mr. Lupini said, 'If you are not doing anything else we have a position open.'" she said. "And it turns out I don't suck at it."</p><p>Currently Sumner teaches two classes of civics, two world history courses, P.E. and one remedial math class on top of her part-time instructional duties at Merced College. If that wasn't enough, she is also in charge of the school's multi-cultural celebration and coaches the state champion LifeSmarts team.</p><p>Lupini said Sumner is able to handle so much because, for her, teaching is not a job. She is someone who is passionate about education and is not one to back down from a challenge, he said. "There is an open exchange in her classroom," he said. "In there you are entitled to your opinion you just better be prepared to defend it."</p><p>Sumner was recently bestowed the Teacher of the Year honor for her region by the California Continuing Education Association. She was also named its president. She credits Lupini and her colleagues at San Luis High School for the accolades she has been receiving lately. She said teaching at the campus is a team effort.</p><p>"I still have students that break my hear and still have some that surprise me, but it's worth it," she said.