Tayler Moses

You cannot make sense of Tayler Moses’s life without understanding her connection with military service. It comes as no surprise that it was the Veterans Initiative that drew her to Widener University Commonwealth Law School.

Born at the United States Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Moses was a military brat times two; her father was a Marine and her mother was a Navy Yeoman. When her parents retired from active military service, they moved to Meadville, providing Moses with Pennsylvania roots. Later, when her mother went to work for NASA, the family moved to Huntsville, Alabama, where Moses graduated from high school.

Moses’s father continues to serve in the Alabama National Guard.

Moses began her college career at the Marion Military Institute in Alabama, but transferred to Edinboro University after learning about a medical condition that made her ineligible for service in any branch of the U.S. military during her induction into the Air Force in the fall of 2015.

“That was a big hit for me,” Moses said. “I had to really dig deep and find my motivation about how best to move forward.” Coming home to Pennsylvania made sense, and she threw herself into college, graduating on time in the spring of 2018 with a major in political science and a minor in business.

Spending a semester working in state government as part of The Harrisburg Internship Semester of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education gave Moses her next career goal – working as an attorney for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

“If I can’t wear the uniform of the United States Air Force,” Moses said to herself during her junior year in Harrisburg. “I can go to law school, wear a suit, and serve the public by working for the state.”

Assigned to work on the Lt. Governor’s Veterans Affairs Task Force during her Harrisburg semester, Moses met then Widener Law Commonwealth Dean Christian Johnson, chair of its Legal Services Committee, at her very first meeting. Moses said that she followed up as soon as she could without being too pushy after the dean gave her his card and encouraged Moses to call him if she was considering law school.

Moses is looking forward to her final year of law school and is not phased by the fact that instruction will be online because of the COVID-19 pandemic. After working for Pennsylvania State Senator Art Haywood last semester, her interest in working state government has only grown. She says that her number one goal during her final year is to pull her grade point average up.

Moses said she would tell anyone considering law school, military or otherwise, that time management is a big part of the challenge.

“I thought I knew how to manage my time,” she said. “But I definitely learned I needed to improve those skills.”  

Interview was conducted in Summer 2020.