Making a difference: When Lott took a teaching position with Scottwood Elementary in Columbus City Schools five years ago, he had a mission. He wanted to make a difference with children who needed a strong male role model. Many of his fifth-grade students do not have a male living in the home. “I’ve learned a lot about myself and about the world and what is important,” he said.
Finding purpose: His high school basketball coach at Waynesfield taught Lott that athletes are role models. The coach made his players read to kindergartners once a week, something Lott did not want to do at first. Then he found he enjoyed it. He began making extra reading visits. By his senior year, Lott was using his study hall to read to kindergartners daily. “From then on, I knew I wanted to teach.”
Facing facts: Less than 60 percent of students from Columbus City Schools graduate from high school, a reality Lott does not conceal from his pupils. He says he talks about it daily with warnings of how bad habits and distractions can get a person off base. A former captain for the Beavers’ basketball team, he said he preaches sports … “being an athlete.” To be eligible to play, student athletes must keep their grades up. It is rewarding when years later he hears from former students who are still in school.
It all adds up: His favorite subject to teach is math, using hands-on exercises and real-world examples. He uses the statistic that four out of 10 Columbus City students do not graduate … “That’s math,” he said. Lott and his students then explore the possible salaries for college graduates and they compare them with the expected earnings of those with less education.
From jump shot to chip shot: Lott played guard and forward for the Beavers’ basketball team from 1996-99 before repeated knee injuries ended his career. Now he golfs. The two games have similarities. As in his basketball days, he sometimes gets in a “zone” on the golf course and every shot goes well. But golf is unique: “The most humbling sport I ever played,” he said. “It’s you against yourself. You learn about yourself playing golf.”
Ottawa connection: Each year, Lott has his students write back and forth with pupils at Ottawa Elementary, in Putnam County. The arrangement with Ottawa teacher and Bluffton alumna Cindy (Herrmann ’75) Lichtle becomes a lesson in diversity for the students. They do not know what their pen pals look like, their skin color or family income.
Powerful message: At the end of the school year, the big city and small town students meet each other, typically on a field trip at Ohio Caverns, in West Liberty, where they have a picnic, play games and tour the caverns. The experience sends a message of peace and acceptance of others, regardless of background or skin color. “It’s a very powerful message we need to strive for,” Lott said. Some students continue to write to each other after the school year.
