For most, it is rare to change career paths or college majors after finding success in a certain field. Most people go to college for one thing and then stay in that field for the rest of their career.

This isn’t the case, however, for Ros Runner.

Runner will be leaving his position as a meteorologist for NBC12 to work as a counselor at Godwin.

While converting from meteorologist to counselor may seem like a significant change, Runner claims the two paths are more alike than they are different.

“When you work in television and you’re working in a news environment or doing weather, weather can suddenly become severe and you have to break into broadcasting. So I think [school counseling] is similar in the fact that they both have the potential for that same sense of urgency because a student can come to you and need your help and attention,” said Runner.

While it may seem to some that going from doing TV weather to being a school counselor is a drastic change, this isn’t the first time Runner has worked with students in an educational setting.

Runner obtained his undergraduate degree in Psychology at the College of William and Mary, a masters degree in Counselor Education at Virginia Commonwealth University, and a Masters in Geosciences with a concentration in meteorology at Mississippi State University.

After obtaining his undergraduate degree, Runner worked in business before deciding to return to school to pursue his Geosciences degree. Following his master’s degree in Geosciences, Runner eventually decided to pursue his goal of helping students through teaching.

“I had had my degree for about seven years, and then I took another job in TV weather here in Richmond working for NBC12, and it was sort of like a bucket list. So now that I’ve accomplished that, I wanted to
use my degree in counseling to give back in a different way and work with students,” said Runner.

As Runner goes through the transitionary period, he is learning, “a tremendous amount. It’s a challenging transition from what I did in television, but it’s very rewarding,”

Runner taught Earth Sciences at Hermitage High School for two years and mainly credits this for his desire to change his career.

“When I was in high school, my school counselor was always someone I could come to with a question. But what was an even bigger influence [in becoming a counselor] was when I was a teacher… I had students who needed more help than I could give them as a teacher, and I always thought it was great that they had a counselor as a resource,” said Runner.

When Runner decided to pursue a career in school counseling, he already knew that he wanted to help students. The only thing he had to decide was which group of students he wanted to work with.

“I thought I could help high school kids with getting ready to make that transition – either to college or whatever it is they want to do in life. I have three degrees, but I also recognize that that isn’t for everyone. With all the life experience I have, I thought I could be more beneficial to high school kids,” said Runner.