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Contest

Update 4/9/25:
Congrats to our winners!
Presenting the winners of the 3rd annual America’s Next Great Intern contest!
Congrats to all finalists who demonstrated strong writing, speaking and interpersonal skills.
And thank you to the hundreds of students who competed and the 20,000+ people who voted.
We plan to stage the contest again in February 2026 so mark your calendars now!
Without further adieu…
—-
High School Winners
1st place
Rakshana Damodaran, 9th Grade
- Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
- Fairfax County Public Schools
- Fairfax County, VA
- Teacher: Jane Iyengar
2nd place
Shannon Jenkins, 12th Grade
- Boone High School
- Boone Community School District
- Boone, Iowa
- Teacher: Amy Bossard
3rd place
Jordan Blair, 12th Grade
- Blaine High School
- Anoka-Hennepin School District
- Anoka, Minnesota
- Teacher: Holly Boisjolie
“Up and Coming” Middle School Winners
First Place: Zanae Dewar, 8th Grade
- William R. Davie Middle S.T.E.M. Academy
- Halifax County Schools
- Halifax, North Carolina
- Teacher: Mr. Fredirick Lapitan
Second Place: Maliyah Time, 8th Grade
- Aliamanu Middle School
- Panther Academy
- Honolulu, Hawaii
- Teacher: Ms. Cherie Teraoka
Contest overview: Rubin, the leader in online instruction for employability and work readiness skills, will stage the third-annual America’s Next Great Intern contest in winter/spring 2025.
The contest is 100% free. All participating students receive a certificate of completion and a ready-made portfolio of their submitted contest materials.
The first place winner (high school division) will meet virtually with Scott Kaufman-Ross, an executive with the National Basketball Association (NBA).

In 2025, Practice with Propel!

As part of the contest, all students will use our game-changing Propel email etiquette tool for the email writing portion of the contest.
Rubin is a Proud Partner of the Association for Career and Technical Education

Contest Details
The free contest is open to middle school, high school and postsecondary students in any CTE or project-based (hands-on) class or program.
Students will submit examples of their work in the following categories:
- Email Etiquette: Demonstrate a professional-grade email based on fictional, work-related scenario.
- Research and Critical Thinking: Learn to develop sharp questions ahead of a fictitious internship interview.
- Ethical Dilemma: Provide a response to a tricky ethical situation you might face as an intern.
Total time required for contest submission: 2-3 hours
Rubin will provide instructions and examples for each category and a single Google Form for students to submit all components.
The instructions draw upon Rubin’s three products for employability skills:
- Emerge: library of 500+ instructional items for employability skills.
- Aspire: library of 350+ career exploration videos.
- Propel: Groundbreaking email etiquette teaching tool.
Rubin provides Emerge, Aspire and Propel to CTE programs nationwide like Miami-Dade, Philadelphia, Las Vegas and Fairfax County (Virginia).
Everyone’s a winner!
Each student who participates in the contest will receive a certificate and e-portfolio of their submitted work! The e-portfolio will come to the students as a Google Doc.
Important Dates
- Tuesday, January 7, 2025: Contest registration opens!
- Monday, February 3, 2025: To coincide with National CTE Month in February, Rubin launches America’s Next Great Intern contest and opens for student submissions. Teachers can register their classes throughout the month of February.
- Friday, March 7, 2025: The student submission period closes.
- Tuesday, March 11, 2025: Rubin unveils national student finalists and starts the public voting process via RubinEducation.com.
- Friday, April 4, 2025: The public voting period closes.
- Wednesday, April 9, 2025: Rubin reveals America’s Next Great Intern.
Follow us for contest updates and announcements!
Contest Rules
The free contest is open to middle school, high school and post-secondary students in any CTE or project-based (hands-on) class or program.
The Rubin team, in coordination with industry professionals, will determine the national finalists after a review of all submissions.
The public will then vote on the finalists, and the students from grades 9-12 and post-secondary programs with the highest vote total after the voting period will win 1st, 2nd and 3rd places. Rubin will also announce “Up and Coming” winners from grades 6-8.
All students who enter will receive a certificate of participation and a portfolio that displays the work they submitted for the contest!
Prizes
Judging Panel
FAQs
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