OHIO Chillicothe helps Rob Truitt turn a calling into a teaching career

Long before he arrives in class at Ohio University Chillicothe, Rob Truitt is already well into his day. 

At 5:30 each morning, the 46-year-old Army veteran reports to the Paint Valley Local School District bus garage before driving winding Ross County roads for his morning bus route. After dropping the students off at school, he heads to campus for his own classes. By midafternoon, he is back behind the wheel for the afternoon route. 

Student. Bus driver. Tutor. Coach. Husband. Father. 

Balancing those roles is not always easy, but Truitt says the support of his family and OHIO Chillicothe faculty helps make the balance act work. 

“It's a work in progress. It always is,” Truitt said of balancing school, work and family responsibilities. “I don't think there's ever going to be one silver bullet that fixes everything.” 

Now in his second year at OHIO Chillicothe, Truitt is pursuing a bachelor's degree in middle childhood education with a focus in math and science. After graduation, he plans to earn a master's degree and add certificates in technology and engineering education to prepare for teaching in a STEM program. 

A campus that fits his life 

The choice of OHIO Chillicothe was both practical and personal for Truitt. 

Truitt appreciates the campus’ proximity to his Ross County home, and his family's experience with OHIO gave him confidence in his decision. His daughter, Reagan, earned an associate degree from OHIO Chillicothe while still in high school and is now completing her bachelor's degree on OHIO's Athens campus. 

As a non-traditional student, Truitt has also enjoyed opportunities he missed earlier in life. He regularly attends Bobcat football, basketball, hockey and volleyball games, embracing the college experience while working toward a new career. 

Most importantly, he says, faculty understand the complex realities students face.  

Truitt credits Associate Professor of Instruction Karen Corcoran with helping him map out his options for a teacher licensure and future employment. 

“If you give them a heads up, they (faculty) are more than willing to have those office hours to get with you and help you stay caught up,” he said. “I really appreciate that personal touch.” 

Corcoran believes the experiences Truitt brings to the classroom will make him an exceptional educator.  

“As a nontraditional student at OHIO Chillicothe, he brings a unique perspective shaped by his military experience and the experience of raising a family,” Corcoran said. “His genuine passion for helping all learners, combined with the resilience, maturity and life experience he brings to the classroom, will make him a compassionate and effective educator.” 

Learning through experience 

Truitt's path to becoming an educator already includes helping students succeed. 

As a math tutor at OHIO Chillicothe, he helps fellow students with understanding math concepts and coursework. Between tutoring sessions, he opens his laptop and works on his own assignments. The role reinforces the concepts he is studying while giving him valuable teaching experience. 

Tutoring has also reinforced an important lesson he hopes to bring into his future classroom: mistakes are opportunities to learn. 

After discovering an error in a problem he was helping a student solve, Truitt used the moment to model accountability and problem-solving. 

“If I make a mistake, but I tell you I made a mistake, and this is where my mistake was, then that breeds more humanity into it,” he said. "We all make mistakes. How do we recover from those mistakes?” 

In his classes, Truitt studies effective teaching practices, and he keeps a running list of what works. One memorable example came in an astronomy class taught by Associate Professor Michael Koop, who used a basketball to represent the sun and led students down the hallway to demonstrate the immense scale of the universe. 

That lesson reminded Truitt that learning sticks when instructors make concepts relevant and memorable. 

Advice for returning students 

Returning to college after decades away from the classroom came with challenges. 

After placing directly into college algebra, Truitt quickly discovered that math instruction had changed significantly since he last took the subject 25 years earlier. Looking back, he says he would have benefited from taking developmental math coursework before moving into higher-level classes.  

His advice to other adults considering college is simple: prepare ahead of time, refresh foundational knowledge and commit to completing coursework, even when assignments are not graded. 

A calling fulfilled 

Truitt has always been called to lead and inspire. 

Born in Mississippi and raised in Kansas after his parents divorced, Truitt graduated from a high school class of just 23 students. He later enlisted in the U.S. Army and was stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where he met his wife. The couple married in Ross County in 2001.  

He originally enrolled in college with plans to become a teacher but realized he was not yet prepared for the commitment. Military service, including a deployment to Iraq after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, interrupted his studies. Over a 15-year Army career, he gained experiences that would ultimately shape his future in education. After leaving the military, he worked at Kenworth in Chillicothe before returning to college. 

The family settled in Ross County in 2005. 

"Put down roots where they're deep," Truitt said. "I never had that."  

As a Ross County parent, he has coached football, basketball, baseball and softball, working with young athletes from elementary school through high school. Combined with military service and raising a family, those experiences provided the perspective he felt was missing when he first pursued a teaching degree. 

"I've had three callings," Truitt said. "The military was the first. Family and coaching came next. Teaching is the third." 

Today, with support from his wife, who co-owns Brick Haven Spa, Truitt is finally pursuing that calling. 

"I'm still in the middle of it," he said. "But it's going to be worth it."