Born to Serve

It’s in his heart, it’s in his soul, and it’s in his actions.

It’s what motivated him to join the Marine Corps right out of high school. 

It’s what led him to the Henrico County Police Department.

And it’s what ultimately brought him to Collegiate this past July to serve as director of campus safety and security after working in a similar capacity at Grove Christian School.

“Every step of my career has been serving something bigger than myself,” he said. “That’s the path I feel like I’m meant to be on. It’s brought me great satisfaction.”

A native of Westland, Michigan, and a graduate of Wayne Memorial High School, Ruark remembers well the times that military recruiters stopped by to make their pitches. He listened intently to all. The opportunity to embrace the challenges of the Marine Corps spoke loudly to him.

“I was drawn to that,” he said. “I wanted to test myself.”

There was more.

“My grandparents lived in Williamsburg, so I actually spent my summers coming down here on vacation,” he said. “My grandfather (Richard Aldridge) was 27 years in the Navy. Retired master chief. When I would come down, we would go fishing, bowling, and golfing on all the naval bases around here. I grew up going to see the ships. My grandfather was my hero. I wanted to be like him. He said I should look into the Marine Corps. He was fully on board. 

“Then 9-11 happened. The Iraq War started when I was a Senior in high school. It was Memorial Day 2003. I decided I was going to join. I swore in a week later. I left two weeks after that to go to boot camp in Parris Island. That’s the longest (13 weeks) and hardest boot camp (in the military). I was 18 years old. That was the start of everything I did.”

During his six years of active duty, Ruark served two tours in Iraq: September 2006 until April 2007 as a corporal, and April through November of 2008 as a sergeant.

“My first deployment was a lot of convoy operations,” he said. “’06 was the deadliest time over there. It was really intense. We were doing a lot of escort missions (for convoys) all over Al Anbar Province. 

“My second deployment was training Iraqi police officers. On top of training law enforcement, we were also training the mayor’s bodyguards and providing security at city council meetings. I was a leader of a squad that was in charge of our commanding officer’s protection detail. We also did our normal patrols.”

Was there ever a plan to make the military a career?

“There was,” he said. “I was really drawn to some of the special operations units that I was exposed to. I figured I wanted that to be my next challenge. I wanted to see how far I could push it and operate at that level, but after back-to-back deployments, I decided that it was time to get out.”

From 2012 through 2022, Ruark served with the Henrico County Police Department. The first 32 weeks, he attended the Police Academy where he earned the Peer Exemplar Award, the top honor for values-driven leadership.

 “Went through field training,” he said. “Had a very demanding but excellent field training officer. He stretched me. I was so much better for it how much stuff we got into and how well-rounded I felt coming out of field training.”

He was a solo patrol officer in 2013 and 2014, then joined the K-9 unit where he remained until the end of 2020 when he volunteered to return to patrol, where he remained until he left HCPD in March 2022.

A year later, he joined the staff at Grove Christian School where his and his wife Ashley’s son Harrison, now 9, attends. There, he undertook several assignments, among them security and safety officer.

“They had a math teacher resign,” he said. “They called me three days later and said, ‘What would you think about taking this math class for the last 10 weeks of school?’  It sounded like a great opportunity. It was different from military or law enforcement. I thought teaching was my new calling. Two weeks later, the shooting happened at New Covenant School in Nashville. Of course, I started to get questions and was asked to do staff training. I thought I would be of more service to the school if I took over their security than being a teacher.”

The position at Collegiate had been on his radar.

“Two years ago, right after I signed on at Grove, a friend sent me this job posting,” he said. “I was very interested. Having been a police officer in the area, I knew the school’s reputation, but in my gut. I said, ‘I just signed on to Grove. I committed to them,’ so I stayed there. I monitored the job. I read a lot about Collegiate, the academics, the culture, the traditions. By this year when it came up again, I felt like this was my time to expand professionally.”

Ruark’s assignment includes coordinating and overseeing all safety and security operations across the three divisions and at events both on the main campus and at Robins.
  
“I believe in planning ahead, not overplanning, but having the principles of how we do things in place,” he said. “I’ve read about how safety and security here at Collegiate has evolved. I want to build on what’s already here. Right now, there’re so many good things in place. I’m stepping into a good situation.

“I had high expectations coming here. They’ve been met and exceeded. Just to see how three different divisions coordinate and how people work together...  Maybe they don’t always agree, but the job gets done. I’ve been extremely impressed by that.” 

He still has much to learn, he acknowledges, and he sees his new role as another meaningful step in his life journey.

“Working at Grove gave me a joy that I didn’t know I needed,” he said. “It didn’t feel like work. Same here at Collegiate. It seems like this is my mission in life. I know why I wake up in the morning. I know why I get in my car and drive here, and I’m excited to do it every single day.”
~Weldon Bradshaw