From October 2009:

To many, Stephen Rubino is the combination of a man for all seasons and the elder statesman of Chamblee Charter High School.
In the early to mid 1990s, Rubino coached junior varsity baseball and sponsored the Beta Club. Rubino has sponsored Model United Nation and Mock Trial. He has been the Close- Up coordinator since 2000 and the academic coach for We the People since 2004.
Not to mention, Rubino was the social studies department chairman in the early 2000s, and currently he is the advisor to both the student government and the senior class.
But there is one thing he had not been at Chamblee: teacher of the year. Last week, Rubino was selected by his peers as Chamblee’s 2009-2010 teacher of the year.
In his eighteenth year at Chamblee, where he graduated in 1973, Rubino is an Advanced Placement United States History and government teacher. Rubino earned his B.A. in political science and public administration from Miami University in Ohio. Two decades later, he earned his Masters of Education in Social Studies from the University of Georgia.
“I teach for society and for myself. I do not have any children of my own and so my contribution to the future of the U.S. is teaching other people’s children,” said Rubino. “I also teach because I absolutely love it. The feeling you get when a child ‘gets it’ is a powerful incentive to get up each day and come to school.”
Unconcerned with winning the day-to-day popularity contest, Rubino’s ultimate goal, regardless of his methods, is for the students to leave Chamblee and make a difference because of a lesson they learned from him. He believes that social studies is absolutely the most crucial subject area because it teaches “our posterity” of our struggle to make a “more perfect union” and “secure the blessings of liberty” for the United States’ future.
“I sponsor everything under the sun because the classroom is such a small venue to reach kids these days. High school is so much more,” said Rubino. “If I can teach kids how to interact with adults, with superiors, with subordinates, they will have a much easier time when they get out in the real world.”
In his tenure at Chamblee, Rubino has experienced the sentimental moment of teaching in the same classrooms he once was a student. One of his fondest teaching memories is when he walked down to a pep rally and spotted students skipping it. It was an ironic moment for Rubino because when he was a student, he decided to skip a pep rally, and he too was caught by a teacher.
“Rubino builds a strong relationship with the students,” said Advanced Placement Government student Marley Rashad, who also had Rubino last year for Advanced Placement United States History. “He is an excellent lecturer, and he shares insightful stories. Most of all, he gives us freedom of thought during the discussions.”
Rubino and his wife, Sheila, a retired Chamblee Middle School math teacher, live in Dunwoody. He said he is blessed to be married to “the best wife in the world,” and he credits her for teaching him that he was not defined by his job.
In addition to being named teacher of the year, Rubino, who was selected teacher of the year at Sequoyah Junior High and considers himself very lucky to teach at his alma mater, said his proudest moment as a Chamblee teacher occurred in December of 2004.
He was with his first We the People Constitution team at the Georgia State Capitol, and he choked up when he heard the judges call Chamblee as the state champions. Rubino’s Chamblee experiences also encompass the night head football coach Gene Goff died on the sidelines, and he recalls with laughter when he and other teachers portrayed the Village People and performed “YMCA” for the students during a pep rally.
“Steve is someone who is more concerned about learning than the grades, and he wants the kids to grow and become civic minded,” said social studies department chairwoman Gail Barnes, who has worked with Rubino for 13 years.
“The honor is well deserved,” said Barnes. “Steve likes working with the kids and getting things done the right way. He loves to learn new things, and he loves to see others acquire knowledge.”