WGU Graduate Speaker, Rayna Moore

<p>Saturday, April 27, 2019 WGU Commencement in Cincinnati, Ohio. Rayna Moore was a graduate speaker. Rayna Moore earned a Master of Arts, Teaching, Science Education (Secondary) degree.</p> <p>WGU President Scott D. Pulsipher: That's really pretty good. Like who catches the early bird? The night owls. [Chuckles] Hey, Jay, you know it's never too late to finish that degree. I might know a university that could help you out. [Laughter] [applause] </p> <p>Thank you again. And now we have the privilege from hearing from two of our graduates. They are: Rayna Moore, Master of Arts Teaching Science Education from Payne, Ohio. And, as you already heard, Angie Keilhauer, Bachelor of Science, Marketing Management from Nashville, Tennessee, who also sang our national anthem today. Please join me in welcoming first to the lectern, Rayna. [Applause] </p> <p>Rayna Moore: Life is full of choices. Like ice cream. You have to try many different flavors to see what you like. Some may like chocolate, peanut butter, and some may like lemon and blueberry parfait. Just like ice cream, I've tried many different career paths before finding what I was meant to be: A high school science teacher. </p> <p>In 2008, I graduated from Wittenberg University with bachelor's degrees in theater and interdepartmental science. After graduating I worked in higher education, promotional marketing, and toured the world as a theatrical technician. When my husband and I married, I left life on the road and took a position in banking. But I always wanted to continue my education. </p> <p>After my daughter was born, I quit that position to spend time at home with my baby, and finally get my master's in teaching. I was excited to finally utilize my science degree, work in a position where I could make a difference, and to make my mother proud by following her in her educator footsteps. </p> <p>With baby at home, WGU's program was the perfect combination of affordability and flexibility. And less than 18 months later, I am so excited to receive my master's and become a certified science teacher. After this long, rocky road, I am finally confident that I am qualified for the best position for me. </p> <p>In my final term at WGU, I was listening to the radio on my drive home after completing my second week of student teaching. The show's host was talking about some survey he had found that listed the top ten most useless things taught in school. He began to list: Photosynthesis, the Periodic Table, mitosis, the rock cycle, osmosis, parts of the atom. You can see how this was a little disheartening to someone who had almost completed an entire master's curriculum, and was almost a certified high school science teacher. </p> <p>Well, this wasn't the first time that I'd heard something like this. It happened nearly every day in my freshman biology classes. "I will never, ever use this again in my whole life!" And, "Why are you making me learn this? I'm wasting my time!" </p> <p>The following week, the class was completing a DNA mutations and codon fun sheet. "Fun," it was right there in the title, it must be true. My students started to understand the concepts and complete the fun sheet, and decipher the secret message at the end. And I was so proud of them and said, "Now don't you feel accomplished that you were able to go through all those steps to find the right answer?" Of course one student piped up, "What a waste of time!" And it hit me. I looked at her and I said, "How do you know you like chocolate ice cream?" She stared at me. I said, "Until you tried it, you had no idea that you would like it. And that's our job as teachers, to expose you to as many experiences as we can, so by the time you graduate, you have a sense of what you like, and don't like. So you're able to make informed decisions."</p> <p>She said, "Well, I know I don't like this. I'm going to be a cosmetologist and do model's make up." So I told her, "It is good to know what you like, and it is just as good to know what you don't. You may want to be a cosmetologist. But don't you hope someone likes chemistry so much that they become the chemist that formulates the products that you'll use? And don't you hope somebody likes math so much that they'll become an architect to design your make up studio? And don't you hope somebody likes physics so much that they become an engineer and build a faster, safer airplane for you to jet off to Milan in? It is absolutely okay to not love everything. I'm just asking you to give other flavors of ice cream a chance." </p> <p>This fall, I will begin my journey as a full fledged science educator, and I look forward to introducing new flavors into Ohio's bright, young minds. [Applause]</p>