Who knew a single webinar topic could lead to so much learning and development?

In Ms. Lynn Lunger’s Work Awareness and Transition (WAT) class at Justice High School in Fairfax County near Washington, DC (largest school system in Virginia), 25 special education students of varying levels explored careers in recycling and waste management.

The idea for the unit stemmed from a Rubin webinar on October 2, 2020 in which Danny Rubin, the founder of Rubin, interviewed Hamilton Perkins of Hamilton Perkins Collection (HPC). See the webinar here and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

HPC uses recycled plastic bottles and used billboard material to create cutting-edge fashion for items like backpacks, purses and fanny packs.

“The Rubin webinar allowed me to build a lesson plan around recycling and help my students discover jobs they can pursue,” said Lunger. “One group of students even made recycling posters to place around the school.”

The recycling unit also enabled Lunger to align with Virginia’s 22 Workplace Readiness Skills. In this case, Lunger covered skill #11, “Big Picture Thinking.”

11. BIG PICTURE THINKING: Understands one’s role in fulfilling the mission of the workplace and considers the social, economic, and environmental impacts of one’s actions

Justice High School teacher Lynn Lunger

“It’s so hard right now to connect students with authentic career experiences,” said Lunger. “Many of my students struggle with traditional academics, but the Rubin webinar gave me the seeds of an idea to show basic concepts and introduce career paths.”

Several other Fairfax County CTE teachers also use Rubin for students in the general population. The schools are: Langley High School, McLean High School and Hayfield Secondary School.

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