Inspiration can come from the most unlikely of places. For Rain Moran, this year’s commencement speaker, it came to her at work. After working as a surgical technician for six years, Moran felt that while she loved her job, it wasn’t going to be her career for a lifetime. She was considering going back to school to become a nurse when she spoke with a surgeon co-worker with whom she regularly worked in the operating room at Phoenix Baptist Hospital. He was a nurse for 20 years, but went back to school to become a surgeon, graduating at the age of 52. This is what inspired Moran, a returning adult student and single mother, to not only return to school, but to “go all the way,” she said. She decided that she would become a doctor.
“It was challenging,” she said of returning to college after a 20-year absence. “I thought I was going to be the old lady of the group, but when I got to class, it was a nice, diverse mix of students.” Her classmates, the advisors and her instructors at Estrella Mountain are what Moran described as a big support to her at school. However, the most support she had came from her family.
“My mom moved in with me when I got divorced,” she said. “She’s been so supportive of me returning to school that she says all I have to worry about is ‘getting good grades and working to pay the bills,’ and that she would take care of everything else.” Moran had even more support from her 12- and 14-year-old daughters, who easily understood the personal, financial and emotional sacrifices they would experience having a mother who was attending college while working full time. “They have been really great,” she said of her daughters, “and they are proud of me, love me and wish me good luck!”
Moran is graduating from Estrella Mountain Community College with both an Associate of Arts and Associate of Science degree. She plans to transfer to Grand Canyon University where she will pursue her bachelor’s degree, and would love to eventually attend the University of Arizona’s medical school.