Marty Gordon
NRVsports@mainstreetnewspapers.com
The Christiansburg Rescue Squad had a new volunteer this past week.
He participated in vehicle checks, supply refills, coverage at an outdoor concert, met staff at a local hospital and ran several emergency calls.
The volunteer was a small, green, stuffed animal frog who has become well-traveled over the last few months. All part of a special project by Falling Branch Elementary School where Felix the frog experiences several career paths.
Deputy Chief Joshua Settlage of the Christiansburg Rescue Squad loved the idea and kept the frog active for an entire weekend shift.
Felix had his own CRS shirt, backpack and hat, while sitting in a 3-D printed car seat.
School Counselor Laura Hubble of Falling Branch Elementary is the mastermind behind “Felix’s great adventure,” who has is passport and is ready to travel. So far, Felix has been a home health physical therapist, a graphic designer and sign fabricator, an 11th grade English and Math teacher and Christiansburg EMS volunteer.
Next week, he will help wrap up Virginia’s Tech’s semester with a professor and maybe help with graduation there too.
This lesson with Felix is helping the school’s K-2nd graders learn about different careers.
“In March we had a career day held at FBE where 10 different professions shared information about their careers with the FBE third – fifth graders. Since our K-2nd graders did not attend that day, I wanted a way for them to explore careers as well,” said Hubble. “I came across the idea in a school counseling group I’m a member of and just tweaked it to work for Falling Branch. That’s how Felix was born.”
“Being the FBE frogs (the school’s mascot), we got a cute frog plush and decided to have him travel to different jobs our parents have and learn about their skills and responsibilities and report back on everything he learned,” Hubble added.
“I loved the idea of being able to share career exploration with our younger grades and thought the idea of sending a plush of our school mascot to different jobs would be engaging and cute for younger students to see. They will learn about different careers and job responsibilities through Felix’s adventures,” she said.
After Felix visits, his “boss” sends Hubble information about his visit including job title, skills and responsibilities needed to do that career, a few things Felix learned and what his favorite parts were. They also send pictures of Felix in action.
Hubble is creating a slideshow that will then be shown to K-second graders about Felix’s career adventures and what all he learned in his different career roles.
“I will do a classroom lesson to show the slideshow and generate a discussion among students about Felix’s career exploration. This lesson will be a good follow up to an earlier career lesson done where students explored their interests and potential careers that aligned with those interests,” she said.
The response has been great.
“We’ve had a pretty good response from parents willing to adopt Felix as an intern for the day. We haven’t shared the slide show of Felix’s adventures with students yet, but it is in the works once we get all his information back from his on-the-job training. I hope through the live sharing of Felix’s work with the Christiansburg EMS that students will get more excited about Felix and his adventures,” she said.
Hubble would love for Felix to continue his career adventures as Falling Branch heads into the next school year.
“We will continue to see him around for sure. This is just the beginning, and we would love to build on our career exploration for our FBE students,” she said.
