Justin Dove: Continuing to Inspire Others

Justin Dove was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He came to Ohio when he received a scholarship to attend Central State University where he received his undergraduate degree in education. He was a teacher in Dayton Public Schools for the past six years, teaching health and physical education, but he started to feel the nudge to do something more.

In his job as an educator, he began to offer adaptive physical education for students with different abilities. An occupational therapist (OT) would come into the school to assist him, and Justin started to wonder if occupational therapy might be a career he could pursue. He started to discuss it with the school OT who encouraged him, and he began looking into programs.  

He took prerequisite courses online to see where this idea of changing careers might lead. As he researched OT schools in the area, his wife (Courtney Dove) got a job at Kettering College, and he got accepted into the OT program at Kettering College. He says when he was having second thoughts about leaving his teaching career, it soon felt like God was clearly telling him where to go next.  

Justin is in his first year of the OT program here. When he graduates, he wants to work with his community to serve them. He notes when he was a teacher, he was one of the only Black male teachers in the district, even though the student body was predominately Black. He says it’s so important for kids to see people who look like they do hold all kinds of jobs. As an occupational therapist in two more years, he still wants to be that person who can inspire young kids to see that if he can do it, they can do it.

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