Your cart is currently empty!
Tag: emerge
Virginia 9th Grader Wins America’s Next Great Intern
Fairfax County’s own Rakshana Damodaran is America’s Next Great Intern. The 9th grader at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology was one of 13 finalists selected to showcase top-tier communication skills essential to an internship.
Second place: Shannon Jenkins, 12th grade at Boone High School in Boone, Iowa
Third place: Jordan Blair, 12th grade at Blaine High School in Anoka, Minnesota
Rakshana’s teacher, Jane Iyengar, receives a $250 cash prize to support her classroom.
Rubin, the leader in online curriculum for employability and workplace readiness skills, hosted the competition.
The submission period for the America’s Next Great Intern contest ran throughout February 2025, which is National Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month. All middle school, high school and post-secondary CTE students were eligible.
The instructions were drawn from Rubin’s Emerge curriculum, a broad library of online exercises for employability skills like email/phone etiquette, job interview prep, LinkedIn communication and more. Rubin provides Emerge to CTE programs nationwide.
A panel of judges from the Rubin team assessed the students across three areas:
- Email Etiquette: Demonstrate a professional-grade email based on fictional, work-related scenario.
- Research and Critical Thinking: Learn to develop meaningful questions ahead of a fictitious internship interview.
- Ethical Dilemma: Provide a response to a tricky ethical situation you might face as an intern.
“Employers often lament that students don’t possess the ‘soft skills’ necessary to engage in an office setting or on the job site,” says Danny Rubin, founder of Rubin. “We hope the contest shows that, yes, there are motivated young people coast to coast who will add value to any business or organization.”
For more information or to set up an interview, please contact Danny Rubin at danny@rubineducation.com.
About Rubin:
Rubin is the leader in online instruction for employability and work readiness skills. The company, based in Virginia Beach, Virginia, provides Emerge, a digital curriculum that teaches effective writing and speaking skills, to thousands of students in middle school, high school and higher education. Rubin also has a soft-skill notification tool for email writing called Propel.
Founded in 2017 by Danny Rubin, a former CBS television news reporter and consultant to NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Rubin teaches students nationwide critical lessons for email/phone etiquette, networking, team communication, leadership communication and more. Our motto: “Write well, open doors!”
The best of the best,
Rubin Trains School Counselors in Las Vegas on Emerge, Aspire Products
Rubin is a leading provider of employability skills products for teachers, students and counselors.
During the week of March 24, 2025, the Rubin team led a series of virtual workshops with elementary school counselors in Clark County School District or CCSD (Las Vegas, NV) on our Emerge and Aspire products. Ashley Leon Ramirez, CCSD elementary counselor specialist, facilitated the workshops.
Emerge is our signature employability skills curriculum, and Aspire is a growing library of career exploration videos. Both products are available in Canvas, the learning management system CCSD uses to provide instructional content to its more than 300,000 students.
CCSD is the nation’s fifth largest school system.
In the workshops, Rubin founder Danny Rubin and Director of Instruction Alexis Kruemcke directed 100+ counselors to locate Rubin Emerge and Aspire in Canvas. The Rubin team then demonstrated how to access a piece of Rubin content within Canvas without signing in traditionally.
The counselors found value in topics like social media etiquette, email writing, resume help and interview prep.
Live trainings (virtual or in-person) are a critical part of how Rubin delivers instructional materials to large districts like CCSD or smaller school divisions.
Book a demo to see Emerge and Aspire in action, and discover why many of the nation’s largest districts choose Rubin for employability skills training.
In the image above, Rubin founder Danny Rubin leads a virtual training for elementary school counselors across Clark County School District (Las Vegas, NV), the nation’s fifth-largest school system. Clark County is a Rubin customer and employs our Emerge and Aspire products for employability skills training and career exploration, respectively. Fifth largest school district in the nation.
Here are the Finalists for America’s Next Great Intern!
The Rubin team is excited to announce the 2025 finalists for our America’s Next Great Intern contest.
In the annual contest, students showcase employability skills that employers nationwide value in new hires.
Rubin, the leader in online resources for employability skills training, hosts the competition.
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).
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 were asked to 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.
Demand for intern and job applicants with “soft skills” is a top priority across all industry sectors. According to a 2022 survey of employers by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), 76% of respondents want to hire young people who can work on a team, 73% want ones with strong written communication skills and 58% seek new hires who can speak well.
“Employers often lament that students don’t possess the ‘soft skills’ necessary to engage in an office setting or on the job site,” says Danny Rubin, founder of Rubin. “We hope the contest shows that, yes, there are motivated young people coast to coast who will add value to any business or organization.”
Voting is now open! Visit rubineducation.com/vote to pick America’s Next Great Intern.
Here are the 2025 finalists!
- Kainat Ahmadzai, 10th Grade
Prince William County Schools (VA)
- Kris Basa, 12th Grade
Nacogdoches ISD (TX)
- Jordan Blair, 12th Grade
Anoka-Hennepin School District (MN)
- Ailey Bolson, 12th Grade
Oconomowoc Area School District (WI)
- Rakshana Damodaran, 9th Grade
Fairfax County Public Schools (VA)
- Da’moni Gosha, 10th Grade
Phenix County Schools (AL)
- Asher Hoffman, 11th Grade
Laguna Beach USD (CA)
- Shannon Jenkins, 12th Grade
Boone Community School District (IA)
- Anvith Narayana, 9th Grade
Wake County Public School System (NC)
- Jocelyn Osborne, 12th Grade
Botetourt County Public Schools (VA)
- David Sheffield, 12th Grade
Montgomery ISD (TX)
- Sofia Tovar, 12th Grade
Allen Village School (MO)
- Eliana Wehrle, 11th Grade
Clark County School District (NV)
See who made the cut!
Rubin Enhances Accessibility Features for Emerge and Aspire Products
In both our Emerge employability skills curriculum and Aspire career exploration video platform, we added new accessibility features. Teacher now have:
- 7 different American voices for text-to-speech
- “Page mask” to highlight lines while darkening the rest of the page
- The ability to read aloud and highlight text on a PDF or Word doc
See screenshots below and then dive into Emerge or Aspire to try these exciting features!
Click the box highlighted in red to launch the accessibility features from any page.
The new page mask feature.
Click on the icon circled in red to launch the accessibility portal for PDFs and Word docs.
A look inside the accessibility portal for a Rubin PDF about email etiquette.Rubin is for all learners.
Rubin Delivers Emerge to Charter Schools Across Miami-Dade
Rubin, the leader in employability skills training, has now reached charter schools across Miami-Dade, the nation’s third largest school district.
Educators within 15+ charter schools now have access to Emerge, Rubin’s signature digital curriculum for employability skills that covers topics like email/phone etiquette, interview prep, interoffice communication, public speaking and more.
Rubin Director of Instruction Alexis Kruemcke (left) leads charter school educators in Miami-Dade through a training on the Emerge curriculum for employability skills. Rubin founder Danny Rubin (right) assists with the training. Rubin already works with Miami-Dade County Public Schools through the division’s career and technical education (CTE) department. Under the direction of Miami-Dade Curriculum Support Specialist Pam Lopez, Rubin now has a direct connection with students in charter schools across South Florida.
“We are honored to work with Miami-Dade educators to help their students learn critical employability and workplace readiness skills,” said Rubin founder Danny Rubin. “Extending our resources to charter schools allows us to further the mission and make a deeper impact in one of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas.”
Extending our reach in South Florida.
Rubin Awards 1,200+ Digital Badges in Sept/Oct 2024
With the 2024-2025 academic year underway, students are busy in Rubin Emerge learning in-demand employability skills.
At the end of each unit (ex: Email Etiquette — Beginner), students take a post-test. Once students pass the post-test, they earn an Emerge digital badge. So far, students have garnered 1,200+ digital badges for email writing, job outreach strategies, networking, resumes and more.
Here’s a snapshot:
- Email Etiquette — Beginner: 383 badges
- Email Etiquette — Advanced: 172 badges
- Job Outreach: 106 badges
- Networking: 86 badges
- Resume Writing: 78 badges
- Cover Letter Writing: 52 badges
Each badge features a QR code that brings the person to this page on the Rubin site. The pages explains the skills students gained to earn the digital badge.
The badges are ideal for a resume, portfolio, LinkedIn profile and anywhere else students can showcase skills learned.
Badges abound from Emerge.
Teacher Spotlight: For Kyle Bashore, Rubin “Sets the Standard”
In Kyle Bashore’s classroom, Rubin isn’t just a curriculum tool.
Since 2021, Rubin is the standard of excellence his students must strive to meet.
Bashore is a CTE teacher at Cathedral City High School near Palm Springs, California. He teaches inside the HEAL Academy (Health and Environmental Health Academy of Learning), and he’s also the co-advisor of the school’s HOSA chapter.
Bashore draws on our Emerge employability skills curriculum and Aspire career exploration video library to ensure his students write and speak like professionals.
In particular, Bashore has students complete the Emerge Project Management unit to learn how to communicate in a clear, professional manner with teammates.
“I notice a huge change in formality and consideration of others after the Project Management unit,” said Bashore.
Bashore integrates Emerge and Aspire through a seamless connection with his Google Classroom. He carefully selects different topics for the health sciences classes he teaches.
For example:
General resource throughout his classes: Emerge unit called Email Etiquette-Beginner where students learn to write a proper email.
For the TAs (teaching assistants): The TAs practice speaking skills through the Emerge unit called Phone Etiquette.
Emergency Medicine and his HOSA chapter: Emerge units called Project Management and Public Speaking.
Medical Terminology: Emerge unit called Ethics Discussions for tricky workplace situations.
Public Health: Emerge unit called Website Content, which guides students to write a business website.
Bashore also has students search the Aspire career exploration video library to learn about roles in health care (ex: surgical assistant) and also discover cool jobs in fields like STEM, marketing, sports, law and the trades.
Above all, Bashore relies on Rubin to help him prepare students for the world after high school.
“At the start of the year, students begrudgingly work on Rubin assignments as if to say, ‘Do I REALLY need this?’” said Bashore. “By the end of the year, I see significant changes in their professionalism. Without me even asking, they hold themselves to a new standard.”
Thank you, Kyle, for being a wonderful partner in the classroom.
Check out Rubin Emerge and Aspire for yourself! Free trial available here.
CA teacher embraces Rubin Emerge and Aspire
Students Log 1,000,000 Minutes All Time in Rubin Emerge
Students nationwide have spent 1,000,000 collective minutes in Emerge, our signature online curriculum that teaches in-demand employability topics like email/phone etiquette, networking and conversation skills.
Emerge, which debuted in the 2020-2021 academic year, teaches valuable skills for college and career to students nationwide in grades 6-12 and higher education.
Among the most popular assignments that comprise the 1,000,000 minutes:
- How to learn the difference between texting and emailing
- How to set your own voicemail
- How to sign your name in cursive
- How to take a quality headshot
- How to email your instructor politely about a poor grade
Emerge is a Netflix-style library of assignments, readings, videos and quizzes that integrates for single sign-on to the school’s learning management system (ex: Canvas, Schoology and Google Classroom).
The lessons align with state standards across the country for workplace readiness, a critical set of life skills that prepares students for the world beyond graduation.
In that way, Emerge has become a valued resource for school divisions big and small, from Fairfax County, the largest school system in Virginia, to Payette River Technical Academy in Emmett, Idaho.
“Our goal is to give teachers high-quality resources to use in the classroom so we can’t always observe students using Emerge in real time,” said Danny Rubin, founder of Rubin. “When we see the number 1,000,000, it’s a powerful reminder that, yes, Emerge shapes students every day into kind, professional young adults — and that’s a mission worth pursuing to reach 2,000,000 and beyond.”
Schedule a free trial of our resources today!
—-
Rubin is the leader in online instruction for employability or work readiness skills. The company, based in Virginia Beach, Virginia, provides three high-quality resources — Aspire, a career exploration video platform, Emerge, a communication skills curriculum and Propel, a real-time email etiquette training tool for Gmail and Outlook.
Founded in 2017 by Danny Rubin, a former CBS television news reporter and consultant to NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Rubin teaches students nationwide important lessons for email/phone etiquette, networking, team communication, leadership communication and more. Our motto: “Write well, open doors!”
Learning at scale