Jonathan Buchwalter was considering several career paths during his undergraduate days at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. While still enrolled in the Marine Corps Reserves, Buchwalter began taking classes at UAB in history, philosophy, and criminal justice. His initial plan was to obtain a law degree.
Then one day while working with middle school students as a reading tutor, a young girl started asking him questions about the Ray Bradbury novel Fahrenheit 451. At that moment, Buchwalter says he decided to become a teacher.
“There was just something about her raw curiosity and desire for knowledge that made teaching something I wanted to pursue,” said Buchwalter, who went on to major in history—with a double minor in philosophy and criminal justice—and later earn a master’s in social science education. “I absolutely fell in love with working with those kids, so I pivoted into education.”
Buchwalter currently is a social studies teacher at Tuscaloosa County High School, with a focus on history and philosophy. He says his time at UAB helped establish the foundation for his teaching career.
“I absolutely would not be where I am right now without the work of the professors at UAB, in both the history and philosophy departments,” said Buchwalter. “It was an absolutely unbeatable experience, receiving that content knowledge … All the professors just poured information into the students. That experience makes me feel much more confident with what I’m doing now.”
Buchwalter says he particularly enjoyed the courses taught by UAB philosophy professor Josh May, Ph.D. Buchwalter took four of May’s classes and reveled in the opportunity to engage in spirited conversations with him.
“He really pushed me to think better and bigger, and to challenge my world view,” said Buchwalter. “Studying philosophy under someone who was open to receiving my questions and willing to push back when I would offer a bad idea was a really rewarding experience.”
That connection with May continued once Buchwalter became a teacher himself. May sent Buchwalter chapters of a bioethics textbook he was working on, and Buchwalter’s students provided editing suggestions and other feedback.
“So those students got to be credited in the acknowledgments of that textbook because they helped edit it,” said Buchwalter. “It’s something they can put on their resume, that they contributed to the field of philosophy.”
In addition to his teaching work, Buchwalter is a published author, having written a science fiction trilogy called The Night Sky Trilogy. He also posts history and philosophy videos on TikTok under the name “jonstertruck.” Once again, he gives UAB much of the credit for all this.
“The amount of writing that you do in the history and philosophy programs at UAB made me capable enough that I felt confident I could get my books published,” said Buchwalter. “And the professors helped teach me how to communicate quickly, clearly, and effectively, which I use in my TikTok videos. My books have seen far more success than I expected, and I have more than 120,000 followers on TikTok. I could not be doing any of that without my experiences at UAB.”
