Woman dedicates 52 years to teaching science in Miami-Dade

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Deborah Rubio graduated from the University of Miami in 1971 and started teaching in Miami-Dade County soon after. She is the longest working teacher in Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

Rubio started her career as a science teacher at West Miami Junior High. More than five decades later, she is still teaching science at Cutler Bay High School.

“I have been working forever,” Rubio, 73, said. “I wake up in the morning; I am happy to come to work. The best way to learn is by teaching … I’m very good at explaining things.”

Rubio said she enjoys having hands-on activities after some lessons and it doesn’t matter how much time goes by it is always rewarding to see when a student’s “light goes on.”

“She teaches us to actually understand the subject not just memorize it, so even when I take tests I still retain the information after I take the test,” said Izelle Redwine, a freshman.

Rubio established the school’s chapter of the Science National Honor Society. Izelle and Marguerite Teare, also a freshman, said she is a role model.

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“I’m definitely inspired because she has mentioned before that she didn’t really realize that it was her dream to teach until she started doing it and it kind of gives me hope that I’ll find something that I love to do just as much,” Marguerite said.