After teaching high school science in Manhattan, Luz Rubianes moved to Texas with her soldier husband and settled into a career in education guiding students into the STEM field.
A trained biologist who seriously considered a medical career, she is now working with some of the brightest Killeen ISD high school students as they navigate high school and college simultaneously.
She is a KISD STEEL Award winner for the month of October.
The district’s STEM Advisor works with about 250 juniors and seniors who come from KISD’s five high schools to attend the STEM Academy at Central Texas College.
A native New Yorker, Rubianes has been in Killeen since 1993. She taught science in Copperas Cove ISD 10 years, moving to KISD in 2003. She has been a teacher, elementary counselor, middle school counselor and high school counselor.
She was the STEM counselor at Smith and then Nolan middle schools when those STEM academies opened and then moved to CTC as KISD high school STEM advisor.
“I enjoy science. I always wanted to be a teacher. I enjoyed learning about plants and animals,” she said, noting she even liked the dissecting and especially enjoyed teaching anatomy and physiology.
“I enjoy what I do now because my students are pursuing not only their high school diploma, but also their associates degree through CTC. It takes a lot to make sure they have all the credits needed and to keep them on track.”
Now a 41-year educator, what Rubianes enjoys as much as anything is the experience of graduation season as her students earn a college degree and a week or so later earn their diploma.
“Sometimes they come back and it’s so awesome seeing what they are doing in their career, with children and everything,” she said, noting that some now have grandchildren.
She acknowledged that the STEEL Award was a surprise. “What a great honor,” she said. “There was such a large crowd here. It was exciting.”
KISD awards two employees a month with a STEEL Award, which stands for Supporting the Education and Empowerment of Learners and is awarded based on supervisor nominations.
Photos from the surprise presentation are loaded on www.killeenisd.org/photos