Rob Reinhart (BA ’07) leads the Talented and Gifted program at Springville High School .

His journey to that position wasn’t easy: He faced financial and emotional challenges while working toward his degree and even spent time sleeping in his car between work and classes.

“This is the story of a person who didn’t have any motivation, had no encouragement, and was told he wasn’t good enough,” Reinhart said. “It took one person to put his trust in me, to encourage me to go out and give it my best.”

Reinhart struggled in high school.

“My parents didn’t care about my grades, so I didn’t care about them either,” he said.

After high school he attended Kirkwood Community College , squeaking by with a 2.5 grade point average. He continued his education at The University of Iowa, but struggled to keep up financially.

“I had to stop a few times and go to work,” he said. Eventually, the debt became too much.

“Trying to pay for college on credit cards forced me out,” he said. “I took a job as a night manager at Kwik Trip.”

He next decided to join the Navy—thought he’d get some job training and perhaps find a way to dig himself out of his financial hole and finish his degree. That plan didn’t work either—he was diagnosed with a hearing disorder and couldn’t join.

Reinhart’s next few years were spent living at home with his parents, earning a computer programming degree, and working in tech support at a company that eventually went under.

“I was confident in my computer skills, but the market had fallen. I went from temp job to temp job,” he said.

Eventually, he took a job at Worley Warehousing in Iowa City . He worked the third shift and was able to pay off his initial college debt.

While working at Worley, Reinhart again enrolled at the UI to study history. But fitting school into his schedule was challenging.

“I would get off from work at 6 a.m. every morning, drive to the Old Capitol parking garage, sleep in the back of my car for a few hours and then get up and go to class,” he said.

Despite his schedule, Reinhart, who was by then in his early 30s, found more success at the UI his second time around. He was earning Bs. He met a fellow student who encouraged him to earn his teaching certificate, but Reinhart wasn’t immediately sure that was the right path for him.

“I’d always kind of ruled out being a teacher because I was a lousy student—kind of a smart alec, didn’t get good grades,” he said.

But Social Studies Education Associate Professor Bruce Fehn inspired him to try.

“He gave me some encouraging words and a little advice. I fully expected to get rejected,” Reinhart said.

Instead, he was accepted on his first try. The shock of that success proved both challenging and motivating to Reinhart.

“I felt like I didn’t deserve to get in,” he said. “I went through my entire time with a chip on my shoulder, like I needed to prove I belonged.”

Fehn said it was clear to him that Reinhart was a special student.

“From the first time I met him, I was impressed with his intelligence and love of learning,” Fehn said. “He always showed a dogged and admirable determination to get an education.”

Reinhart quit his warehouse job to attend school fulltime. He became an A student, graduating with honors and five teaching endorsements—U.S. History, World History, Government, English, and Talented and Gifted.

He said his job at Springville challenges him to draw on all of his areas of expertise.

“You have to be a master of all things,” he said. “I’ve always been a hard worker and I think that’s served me quite well.”