LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Louisville teacher is proving that service doesn’t stop when the uniform comes off.
Robert Hughes spent six years in the U.S. Army, including a deployment to Afghanistan. Just days after graduating high school, he left for active duty — a move that would shape both his future and his philosophy on teaching.
“So about three days after graduating high school, I was gone active duty for those six years, and then came back with the intention of using my GI Bill to start teaching,” Hughes said.
After serving overseas — including during the COVID-19 pandemic — Hughes returned home and found his next calling at Fern Creek High School.
“There’s also a similarity in the job that I used to do as an instructor in the Army,” Hughes said. “I really realized I liked teaching there. It’s just a different subject and a different group I’m teaching to now, but much of the same — trying to help people understand something for the betterment of the group.”
Now, instead of training soldiers, Hughes teaches world history. He said his military experience helps him connect classroom lessons to real-world events.
“It’s really beneficial as a world history teacher to be able to talk about places I’ve been around the world, some of them for fun, some of them for work in the military,” Hughes said.
He said his students are often curious about his service. And on Veterans Day, he turns that curiosity into a learning opportunity.
“Since it is Veterans Day, we did a practice historical context,” Hughes said. “We work with pulling historical context from things all the time, but because of the holiday, we wanted students to practice articulating the historical context of the holiday.”
Fern Creek Principal Dr. Rebecca Nicolas said Hughes brings a unique perspective to both his students and his fellow teachers.
“I think his lived experience is really engaging for kids, that he’s able to bring that depth of experience to augment any classroom discussion,” Nicolas said. “He just has an emotional maturity that resonates with our kids too. He really is such a valuable addition, both in the classroom and in our professional discussions about learning.”
For Hughes, the classroom is now his new post — and teaching is his second mission.
“One of the main things that anyone in military service has to hone is adaptability,” Hughes said. “And I can’t tell you how many times a day being adaptable comes in handy as a teacher.”
As he puts it, it’s a different mission, with different rewards — and different stakes.
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