USD President's Report 1989

and I loved it!" she say s, rolling her eyes skyward . That experience, as well as happy memories of her own grade school years, catapulted Moreland toward teaching, a pro- fession she has dedicated herself to at elementary schools in Ramona for the past 10 years. Reflecting on her classroom philos- ophy, Moreland says it is shaped by her childhood memories of a teacher always being there when she needed direction. "Teachers always challenged me and drove me to do better, try harder. But I always wondered about the kids who weren't getting all A's and weren't in the highest reading group. Was someone there for them?" "When you look back at life, what else is there but caring for each other?" -Adrienne Moreland At Ramona's Mt. Woodson Elemen- tary School, it is the outgoing Moreland who is there for chiIden who are not tops in their class or who struggle to get through their lessons from day to day. " These are the kids who traditionally have fallen through the cracks and were labeled losers early in life;· she says softly. "When I see their self-esteem bolstered by little successes in the classroom, I feel good knowing I was a part of that. And one day, perhaps these students will be well-adjusted contributors to society, because we inter-

T H E

ETERNAL OPTIMIST

S he is a self-described eternal optimist who hopes people will remember that she cared . Caring, she says, is a virtue that effects change when one teaches academically challenged youngsters-as she has done for the past decade. Her commitment hasn't gone unnoticed . In 1989 she was one of five educators nationally to be presented with the Christa McAuliffe Award by the National Foundation for the Improvement of Education.

told me I could do whatever I set my mind to," says the Los Angeles native. Moreland set her mind on pursuing a teaching career after being ensnared by a friend to help teach a CCD class. "I was 15 years old and spending my Saturdays with a group of children-who definitely were not sent from heaven and who definitely had better things to do than be in a CCD class-

Adrienne Moreland '78 remembers crying as a young girl when she was sick, upset that she wouldn't be able to go to school. " I know that sounds weird," she laughs, " but I love to learn, and the chal- lenge of school excited me." Moreland attributes that love to her most important role model-her mother. " My mother always

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