DeKALB | When Alex Elias, women’s soccer senior defender, was in fourth grade, she learned values that carried over into her collegiate career when her teacher had to step out of the classroom.

Elias’ friends started joking around mid-class, and Elias was concerned the class would be in trouble when the teacher returned, so she decided she needed to do something. Elias stood, went up to the whiteboard and started teaching the math lesson. Elias didn’t know exactly what her teacher was thinking when she returned to the classroom.

Elias’ mother Anne Elias has seen natural leadership in her daughter since the senior defender was a child.

“It’s all how she’s wired,” Anne Elias said. “It’s nothing [her dad and I] did as parents. It’s just who she is as a unique individual.”

Alex Elias said she feels like she sticks out all the time, and it is hard for her to notice her individuality, but her parents, coach and teammates can see it.

After the senior’s freshman year, her coach, John Ross, moved her to center back, a position he said requires a lot of leadership and communication.

“I think her [individualism] is just her leadership ability,” Ross said. “She is always prepared and knows what [the team needs] to do and leads from [her] spot on the field.”

The senior center back has a distinct voice, according to her teammates. For Alex Elias, being vocal is her comfort zone. She admits sometimes she yells just to yell because it makes her comfortable on the field. If she’s not vocal, it means she’s having a bad day.

“She gives people the eyes in the back of their head,” said Natalia Pena, junior defender and Alex Elias’ teammate. “When you hear Alex, you know what’s going on behind you. She’s the first one yelling. I know where I am if I can hear her — which I usually can.”

The pitch is not the only place where Alex Elias has learned to be vocal. As a student, she’s learned how to use her voice effectively. When the center back decided to become an orientation leader last year, she did not realize all the steps she had to take before being offered the job.

“I was kind of just prepared to go in and show them that ‘yeah, I’m a leader on the soccer field, and I can be a leader here,’ and they weren’t having it,” Alex Elias said. “So, I definitely had to use my voice then to explain to them why I’m a leader, why they should choose me, [and] why I can be a good orientation leader.”

Her roommates Jess Wooldridge, senior defender and midfielder, and senior defender Jackie Wandt get to see the studious side of their roommate at home. Wooldridge and Wandt said the center back was given the nickname “grandpa” because the three roommates usually don’t do anything fun and spend most of their time studying.

Being a mathematics education major, Elias has helped her roommates with their math lessons.

Now, the center back has returned to leading lessons in the classroom — this time as a student-teacher.

“She’s so dedicated with her studies and students,” Wooldridge said. “She’s in student-teaching right now, and she comes back and tells me stories about it, and I just can tell she really cares for [her students]. She’s going to be a great teacher – there’s no doubt about that.”