UNDER THE COCONUT TREE

by Brandon R. Iriarte

       Susan Moses was  the president of College of Micronesia for eight years.  She lives in Uh, one of the municipalities  in  Pohnpei.  She got her  doctorate in Special Education  from the University of Oregon.  She came to Pohnpei on the 1st  of  January, 1972.  She came  here on a three month contract and instead, she ended up in a life-time career. 

    She voluntarily stepped  down from being the president to being  an  instructor in Education in  January  of 2002.  She said she wanted to return to teaching because she is  "a teacher at heart".  This is her field or  the position that she was studying before coming to Pohnpei. Although she became  the president of COM., she was applying for a position to become an instructor.  She was hoping  that the  position re-opened so that she could return to teaching.  Even though it has affected  her salary she wanted to take the job.  As a president, she had to be on a twenty four hour a day work schedule.

   Now she's spending  her  life  as she has wished to, as an instructor in Education.  She's excited about  helping  to  teach people to read, write, and communicate.  All the frustrations and pressures of  being  President of the College are gone and she's doing what she always wished to do.

      Susan Moses and her husband first met on a Friday on a late afternoon many years ago, while he was reading under a coconut tree.  Then he invited her to a birthday party.  They began dating and eventually married.  She lives with her husband and three children, two adult sons and teenage daughter and three grand- children in Uh. We welcome her back into the fold.   

  We welcome Dr. Michael Tatum as the new President of the College of Micronesia-FSM.  MAY THE JOURNEY BEGIN.

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