‘It Only Takes One’: Moreland Grad Thankful for Push to Finish Program
| by Hannah Sparling
Kahala Adams was going to quit.
She was a full-time teacher. She was a full-time pastor. She was enrolled in Moreland University’s TEACH-NOW Teacher Preparation Certificate Program.
Then in October 2023, she found out her kidney disease had returned. She had outpatient surgery to put in a chest tube and went back on dialysis. That zapped her energy and gave her brain fog, which made it difficult to focus. It all felt like too much.
But when Adams went to tell her Moreland instructors she was done, they encouraged her to keep trying. She was only a few months from graduation, and they told her to take it one day and one assignment at a time.
This past May, Adams graduated from Moreland’s TEACH-NOW program. The Florida reading endorsement was included, which meant she only had to pass her state’s certification exams before applying for her license.
“I’m so happy,” she said. “More people should go to Moreland. It’s a great school. I wish I would have known about it a couple years ago.”
‘It Only Takes One’
Adams took an untraditional path to becoming a teacher. She started her career as a phlebotomist for a blood bank before going back to school to earn a bachelor’s degree in public relations and master’s degrees in business and Christian leadership.
She worked in recruiting and then as an admissions counselor for a small college before applying for a job as a substitute teacher for Charter Schools USA in Jacksonville, Florida. It was supposed to be a short-term job — a way to earn supplemental income while she figured out her next step — but Adams has been with that same charter school going on 11 years.
“I had a vision that that’s what I’m supposed to be,” she said. “It’s because I love kids. It’s not the money, we don’t get paid enough as teachers, but I love the kids.”
Adams teaches middle school language arts, civics, and — new this year — debate. A lot of her students lack confidence, she said, and some struggle with difficult home lives or depression.
“So not only am I teaching them language arts, but I’m also talking to them about, ‘Hey, you can do this,’” she said. “It only takes one teacher. One person to say, ‘I love you.’ One person to get to know you to help change those situations.”
Teaching Perseverance
Adams had been teaching with a temporary certificate, but it was going to expire. Charter Schools USA has a partnership with Moreland that includes full tuition coverage for teachers, so once Adams got approval from her principal, the bill was paid.
The TEACH-NOW program was challenging but well worth it, Adams said. The Moreland instructors were knowledgeable and kind, and while some programs are more theoretical, with TEACH-NOW, she was able to immediately apply the lessons with her students.
“You’ll learn information that’s vital in the classroom. Especially learning about AI and new technologies to help you with your kids,” she said. “I would highly, highly recommend Moreland University because they gave me what I needed to be (rated) highly effective this last year.”
In her classroom, when her students tell her they can’t learn something, Adams tells them they can.
When they say it’s too hard, she tells them to keep going.
She’s thankful that, when she wanted to drop out, her instructors at Moreland University did the same for her.
Moreland’s TEACH-NOW program is fully accredited, 100% online, and only takes nine months to complete. Learn more and apply at Moreland.edu.
