Dr. Amy Felicia Eybl
Dr. Felicia Eybl is a Fayetteville native who has devoted her career to elementary education and language immersion teaching. After earning her Bachelor’s degree from North Carolina Central University and a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education from The Ohio State University, she spent seventeen years in Germany where she was immersed in German language and culture. She taught six years in the Department of Defense Dependent Schools and six years at the Bonn American Preschool.
Upon returning to the United States, she joined the German Immersion Program at Bruns Avenue Elementary and Smith Language Academy before later becoming one of the first National Board Certified Teachers in World Languages Other Than English – German. She continued her educational journey receiving a Master’s in Educational Leadership from Gardner‑Webb University and serving ten years as assistant principal at Selwyn Elementary and Idlewild Elementary Schools. She also contributed statewide as a member of the NC Professional Teaching Standards Commission.
Dr. Eybl earned her Doctor of Education in 2015 and was appointed principal of South Academy of International Languages, returning to the language immersion program that she loved and serving the nation’s only school offering five immersion languages under one roof. She led the school for eight years, guiding the construction of a new facility and expanding immersion programming to a second campus. Dr. Eybl believed in the power of language immersion to uplift students and as the school motto said: to create bright futures in six languages.
Dr. Cristina Banfi
Dr. Cristina Banfi is a leading specialist in linguistics, bilingual education, and language policy, distinguished by her ability to bridge academic research with large-scale, practical educational innovation. She currently teaches across several prestigious higher education institutions, including the University of Buenos Aires.
As former Director of Languages in Education and Language Policy Coordinator for the Buenos Aires Ministry of Education, she spearheaded city-wide language initiatives that shaped multilingual education for thousands of students. Her advisory expertise is highly sought after by major international organizations; she has served as a consultant for the Inter‑American Development Bank (IDB) and other global bodies on cutting-edge language teaching and policy projects.
At the forefront of immersion and dual-language education, she co‑pioneered Argentina’s first Argentine‑Chinese dual-language immersion school and played a key role in designing the national “Ceibal en Inglés” program, a remote English teaching initiative that reached hundreds of thousands of learners. She holds a Ph.D. from University College London, an M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge, and was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the University of California‑Davis. Her extensive publications and hands‑on leadership continue to drive innovation in how languages are taught and learned across diverse contexts.