In a four-month series of weekly classes last fall, Hubach and a fellow church volunteer adapted the Jobs for Life curriculum for the developmentally disabled, often changing the material from the written word to a visual representation. (A “Price is Right”-type game taught the students that just as you can’t bid on something if you don’t know what it is, you also can’t expect employers to know what you can do for them if you can’t explain it. “You don’t want to be that gold-wrapped box,” said Hubach.)

One of the most valuable lessons taught in the class was the value of work. “We explored, ‘What is the point of a work ethic? Where did it come from?’” said Fred. “We talked about the fact that God is a worker. He worked six days and then rested. So just as we’re created in His image, it’s our jobs as Christians to be a good employee.”

Those concepts helped his students find the motivation to get up early in the morning to catch the bus to go to their jobs, even when they didn’t feel like it.

For his work on this project, Hubach has been nominated for the 2008 Job for Life Samaritan Award by an elder in his church. But for now, Hubach is getting ready to enter Wheaton College in the fall, where he plans to study economics. As for the lessons he learned with this experience? “It was exciting to be a part of the first adaptation of Jobs for Life for the developmentally disabled. I hope they’ll eventually decide to do it permanently.”