October’s featured educator is Jim Ruid, pictured below on the right. Mr. Ruid is a teacher for the Secondary Technical Education Program, also known as STEP. Mr. Ruid has taught at STEP for two years, teaching classes within the Center for Advanced Professional program to grades 10-12. He has a Business and Career and Technical Education License, a business degree from the Carlson School of Management, and ten years later he received an education degree from the University of Minnesota. What inspired his passion for education was wanting to have a career where he felt he was “doing something meaningful.”
This is Mr. Ruid’s second year working with BestPrep. He and his students’ favorite program BestPrep offers is eMentors. He enjoys it because it motivates and challenges his students to learn to communicate professionally. His students enjoy the program because they can meet and interact with their mentor in a professional workplace setting. STEP’s mission of providing “relevant education to prepare students for the high tech, high skill workplace of the 21st century” creates a seamless partnership with BestPrep. This connection between BestPrep and Mr. Ruid’s classroom has helped enhance the learning environment and better prepare the students for situations that require financial, business, and professional literacy. These skills are crucial to their success post-secondary school.