Student Experience: Darius Moss

What’s your story that led you to where you are now at Dallas College? 
“I believe things are placed in your life for a reason. Before I started at Dallas College, I had an associate degree that didn’t apply to my career, was about to begin a job at a landfill, and to top it off, my daughter’s mother and I were separating. Randomly, a friend of mine suggested I take a job as a school bus driver. I definitely didn’t want to work at a landfill, so I took him up on the offer. I had passed everything except the final parallel parking test, but I realized that the schedule would conflict with getting my 3-year-old daughter to and from pre-K. I heard about a job fair within the district, so I went. 

“At the job fair, I met a principal who offered me a job in a program working with students diagnosed with emotional disturbances, many with trauma backgrounds that I related to personally. It was a job that would pay less, but I knew I would rather be in a classroom with students than on a bus with them. It was a risk, but I believed it was the right direction and a clearer path to where I felt I could be of service the most. I took the job, and I learned a lot my first time in a classroom. I stayed in that role for several years, moved into a central position and now I work in technology. But education has always been the goal, so that’s why I’m excited about my path as a Bachelor of Early Childhood Education student here.” 

You mentioned you always felt called to teach. Where do you think that came from? 
“I didn’t understand it until later in life. I’m 38 now. Through therapy and soul-searching, I came to understand that school had always felt like my safe place growing up. School was my getaway from all the drama at home. That realization helped me understand my desire to work with kids from similar backgrounds. I know what that environment feels like. I was fortunate enough to grow out of it in a healthy way, and I want to help other kids do the same.” 

How has being a parent shaped you? 
“Parenting is hard. I don’t know how our parents had so many kids. I have one 10-year-old daughter who’s in fifth grade. She’s amazingly the opposite of everything I was: student council leader, maintaining several extracurriculars, artsy, kind — just an overall great kid. What’s hard is having conversations about why my relationship with my parents isn't like hers is with her parents, even with her mother and I being divorced. Our co-parenting is healthy, and she and I are very close. That closeness is intentional. I hope that I am breaking the cycle. If nothing else motivates me, she does.” 
 
Have you thought about what it will feel like to have your daughter see you walk across the stage when you graduate? 
“Honestly, I hadn’t. I just want my own classroom. That’s the achievement in my mind. I hadn’t thought about how my daughter might feel seeing me walk across the stage until you mentioned it. She would love that, so I’m definitely more excited about that part of the process than I was before, simply for the joy she will get out of it. That’ll be a new core memory for both of us.” 
 
As a male going into education, do you see yourself as a role model? 
“Absolutely. In many schools I’ve worked in, I’ve been the only Black male. I’ve seen how students, especially young Black boys, respond differently when they see someone who looks like them in that role. I had a student recently ask how to get my technology job and if he could do the same. I told him, ‘Start now. Don’t just use your iPad for fun; use it to learn skills like video editing or coding.’ I want to plant seeds that inspire young students to explore what they’re capable of.” 
 
What legacy do you want to leave behind? 
“Love. I know that sounds cliché, but it isn’t. Love is work. Love is a very intentional choice we have to make daily. It’s something we must actively participate in for it to be successful. I intend to pour love into my craft of education so that every child who comes through my classroom benefits from it. I want to be remembered as someone who truly loved what mattered for humanity and put in the work to show it. If my daughter sees that, if even a few students feel that, that’s enough.”

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