Marine Takes ‘Historical’ Route to Teaching Career

After four years in the Marine Corps, followed by a football injury, Ross Fitzgerald reassessed his career path, leading him full circle back to his plans of becoming a history teacher.

Ross Fitzgerald had designs on becoming a history teacher from the time he graduated from high school in 2007.

It took him a while to get to the point where he’s a teacher. It also took some history.

During a break from college, Fitzgerald served four years with the U.S. Marine Corps, which included a pair of deployments: one in Romania as part of a NATO training mission, the other in Afghanistan. Cpl. Fitzgerald was a rifleman with the 3rd Battalion 8th Marines out of North Carolina.

“I had lots of good experiences during my four years in the U.S. Marine Corps,” Fitzgerald says. “It was good for me.”

Fitzgerald started his college career at Iowa Central Community College in 2007. Following a semester, he reassessed his plans while working for a livestock operation near Aurelia.

“Going to BVU has been a great experience... I’ve had someone in my corner every step of the way at BVU.”

Ross Fitzgerald

“I went to Western Iowa Tech Community College and thought I might become a police officer,” he says. “But I wasn’t sure if that’s what I wanted to do. So, I joined the Marines.”

Following his honorable discharge, Fitzgerald returned to Cherokee and resumed his studies at Northwest Iowa Community College in Sheldon. A football injury he sustained while playing for the Northwest Iowa Bulldogs signaled a setback in his training to become a power lineman.

“It also gave me time to ask myself, ‘Is this what I want to do?’” Fitzgerald asks.

The questions eventually led him to Buena Vista University where Fitzgerald enrolled as a history education major, intent on becoming what he’d initially envisioned for himself as a high school senior.

“Going to BVU has been a great experience,” says Fitzgerald, who uses the Veterans GI Bill® to defray college costs. “I’ve been to four different colleges and BVU is the one I’ve taken most seriously.”

Ross Fitzgerald, class of 2020, with his family

Fitzgerald notes he’s had an incredible classroom experience with Dr. William Feis, Professor of History; Dr. Bradley Best, Professor of Political Science; and Dr. Dixee Bartholomew-Feis, Professor of History and Dean of the School of Liberal Arts.

“I’ve had someone in my corner every step of the way at BVU,” Fitzgerald says.

And while Fitzgerald has been fascinated with Dr. Bill Feis’ depth of knowledge and research on the Civil War, this member of the BVU Class of 2020 finds himself focusing more on current historical events.

“It’s probably because I was part of Operation Enduring Freedom,” he says.

Following a student-teaching assignment at Alta-Aurelia this spring, Fitzgerald is keeping busy applying for teaching and coaching jobs while tending to duties at home with his family as he searches for a job in the career field he saw himself entering more than a decade ago.

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