At LCA, incredible teachers are shaped by decades of experience, deep conviction, and a calling that grows stronger over time. Some arrive with years of wisdom behind them—bringing perspective that shapes not just classrooms, but lives.
Doug Troutner is one of those teachers. For nearly four decades, Troutner taught math in public schools, coaching lacrosse teams to championship seasons, walking students through moments that history wouldn’t forget, and preparing young people with the tools to think and live the life God had given them to live.
Now, he brings that depth of experience to LCA.
Long before he ever stepped into his own classroom, he grew up watching education unfold across the dinner table. His father began as a sixth-grade science teacher before becoming a principal and later an executive administrator. So, growing up, education was already part of his story. Without realizing it, he was learning what it meant to invest in education and develop his passion for teaching that continues til this day.
In seventh grade, he discovered math—and something clicked. “I realized I could teach math all day long,” he remembers. “And that was just the best thing.”
Math gave him more than correct answers. It revealed order—patterns and structure that made sense of the world. That curiosity led him to earn a master’s degree in mathematics, along with a physics minor that deepened his understanding of how math describes the world around us. Even today, that sense of wonder shapes how he teaches. Whether reflecting on the structure of the periodic table or the predictable paths of planets, he sees math and science as evidence of our remarkable Creator woven into creation.
His first teaching job brought him back to the high school he once attended in Ohio. The principal who hired him had been his former middle school guidance counselor—someone who believed in him long before he began his career. It was there that he began to understand that teaching was never just about content.
Through over 40 years in a classroom, he taught through moments that shaped generations—guiding students through the Challenger disaster, the events of September 11, and more recently, supporting a student whose family was directly impacted by the war in Ukraine. Those experiences reinforced what he has always believed: students may sit in math class, but their lives extend far beyond it.
“Our work goes beyond teaching the subject,” he says. “We have to support our students and model how adults handle difficult situations.”
That perspective also shaped how he views the future of education. While tools have changed—from debates about calculators early in his career to conversations about artificial intelligence today—the core purpose remains the same. Education is about more than just mastering content. It’s about learning how to learn.
That truth feels especially real today, as many students prepare for careers that don’t yet exist. He sees that firsthand in his own family—his daughter recently began a job teaching artificial intelligence how to assist occupational therapists, a role that didn’t exist just weeks earlier. Preparing students for that kind of future requires more than strong academics. It requires resilience, curiosity, and discipline—qualities he cultivated not only in the classroom, but also on the field.
Coaching lacrosse became a natural extension of his work as a teacher. He first played the sport in high school and continued on to play in college, where he worked relentlessly to improve—spending hours practicing fundamentals until effort turned into leadership. By his junior year, he had become a team captain. That experience shaped his philosophy as both a coach and teacher: growth is a process that comes through perseverance.
Early in his teaching career, he stepped in to help coach lacrosse programs where the need was greatest. Over time, he became a head coach, eventually leading large programs with more than 100 athletes and a state championship. Teaching and coaching, he discovered, strengthened each other. In the classroom, he saw students think and reason. On the field, he saw their courage, leadership, and determination. Students who struggled in one setting often thrived in another, and those shared experiences built lasting relationships.
“You get to see students in different situations,” he says. “You see strengths that might not show up in one place but shine in another.”
That belief—that students are more than test scores—is a core belief at LCA. Students are children of God, created in His image for great purposes. Great educators simply get to be part of their story to cultivate and draw out those gifts and talents.
Ultimately, Troutner’s teaching journey led him to Boston Massachusetts where he now teaches Upper School math courses in the STEM department. At LCA, teachers bring more than knowledge into their classrooms. They bring decades of experience, stories of perseverance, and wisdom shaped by years of investing in students.For him, teaching and coaching here is not simply a job—it’s a continuation of a lifelong ministry serving the Lord.
Because after decades in education: Students will forget equations. Teams will lose games. But the lessons of how to keep the right priorities when life becomes complicated, how to persevere, how to enjoy the process of growth, and how to follow the Lord where he leads you are the things that matter.
And that’s exactly the kind of teacher LCA is proud to have shaping the next generation.
