Strachan Doran is a senior middle education major from Rhinebeck, New York. He decided he wanted to be a teacher in his junior year of high school, attributing his decision to his experience as a camp counselor.

Doran explained, “I went to a Good Shepherd camp, and after I was old enough, I was able to teach as a counselor. That really helped me shape and developed me into wanting to become a teacher.”

He initially came to Waynesburg to play baseball but recently stepped away to focus on his degree. Along the way, he took many classes with Dr. Kelley Solomon, the program director for the Master of Education, the chairperson for the Department of Education and an associate professor of education at Waynesburg University.

Solomon described her experience with Doran as a student, stating, “Something unique about him is that he has a genuine love for learning, and he is very curious. He will always want to know more, and that goes beyond the classroom. In his field of social studies, he also wants to make that relevant to the students as the why behind the learning.”

As a counselor and during his time at Waynesburg, he realized he values the relationships teachers build with their students. 

“Teacher-student relations are very, very important, and I’d say sometimes much more important than the curriculum that is being taught,” Doran stated. “Even though that is important, something that students can look back on will change their lives and change their way of wanting to learn and realizing it’s not all papers and worksheets. It’s exploring their own pursuits and careers.”

Doran shared a story from his time as a student teacher that was one of his favorite memories. He recalled the student coming up to him to ask him about his home and even pointed it out on a map.

“He was asking me all these questions, and it just hit me, because students want to learn, and they want to feed off you in a lot of ways,” Doran stated. “If you have a story to tell them, and it doesn’t have to be academically related, that could change a child’s life. They can go home and say, ‘Hey, I just learned about somebody,’ and they have their own story to tell now to their parents.”

After graduation, Doran’s goal is to become a teacher either in Pennsylvania or a state farther to the west like Wyoming or Montana.