Emily Eimers Moser ’12
Solon, Iowa

Faith, service, running, and education have been braided together in Emily Moser’s life since her days as a student. At Wartburg, the elementary education major was an All-American distance runner on the cross country and track and field teams, and her excellence in the classroom earned her Academic All-American honors as well.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education in 2012, Moser began her teaching career with first-graders in Algona. She felt God leading her to help a school in Moore, Oklahoma, in 2013 after a monstrous tornado ripped apart the town. At the time, she was reading aloud a book about tornadoes to her students and talking about why they take tornado drills seriously. When the news coverage showed how an Oklahoma elementary school was completely destroyed with some students even losing their lives, Moser took action. She had just won $1,000 by coming in third place in her first marathon the day before, and she had prayed for God to show her where the money she never expected to win could be put to use. She donated her winnings and raised even more in her community to give to an Oklahoma elementary teacher who threw herself on top of her students while the classroom’s walls came down around them in the tornado. Moser later was able to meet the teacher and deliver the necessities and donated goods and toys collected for the students in Oklahoma.

After earning her master’s degree from Southwest Minnesota State in 2015, she moved to Solon, where she taught second grade. “She has done a lot of tutoring and reading with students out of school,” wrote her nominator. Moser’s extra effort for students extended into athletics, too. A student on the Solon cross country team was legally blind but determined to run; however, the state required her to have a guide run alongside her. Moser volunteered to be the guide, a new twist on her passion for running and a unique way to serve. The student qualified for the state cross country meet twice and now competes in track and field in college.

In 2017, Moser became an instructional coach and CIM reading interventionist for grades K-4 in her building. The next year, Solon opened a new intermediate building for grades four and five, where she has been serving as the building’s instructional coach and CIM reading interventionist. “She leads her fellow teachers to be better at their profession,” wrote Sarah Hilby, her nominator. “She is also known to go above and beyond in the classroom to make sure all students are learning and feel welcomed in school.”

Moser qualified for the Boston Marathon in 2014 and 2018. Grateful to be running and racing again, she loves using her talents to lead others beyond the racing atmosphere in not only their education but also in their walk of faith with God. She and her husband, Chase Moser ’15, live in Solon with their infant daughter, Grace.