额外的
2022年11月
二人组作为DPS犯罪实验室分析师打击犯罪
梅拉·埃雷拉·冈萨雷斯和阿什利·里维拉·莱利都是看着这部电影长大的 CSI, 法庭文件 还有其他电视剧，着迷于用科学来破案. 多年以后，谁也猜不到这一点, they would be living that life as forensic scientists with the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Based out of the Lubbock laboratory, Mayra and Ashley work specifically in the DNA area, testing
可以帮助破案的各种痕迹证物. 这对夫妇的故事有很多相似之处, 从他们共同的教育经历到他们目前的职业, 他们在2020年1月一起开始的.
And both say it was their Wayland education in science that led to these exciting new roles.
“I think our professors being so tough on us and wanting to teach us so much really helped us. 我得和. 丹妮拉·佩雷拉，我就是来做这个的. 演讲和会议也有帮助，”玛雅说. “I gave a presentation to nurses on how we’d prefer them to collect items for their sexual assault exams, 所以那是很好的经历. 我在韦兰中学到的东西一直延续至今.”
阿什利表示赞同.
“All those professors prepared us very well mentally to handle the stresses too. Mayra和我从2020年开始, then COVID hit and DPS sent us to the Texas Tech Bioterrorism Lab as some of the first to do PCR testing of individuals,”她说。. “我们参与了帮助应对COVID, and Wayland helped with that too by having us learn DNA extraction and certain instruments. 能帮上忙真是太好了.”
旅程开始了
对于普莱恩维尤本地人阿什利来说, Wayland was a familiar place to return once she found herself at another school but expecting a baby. 最初打算去药学院, she came back to the place she’d once taken concurrent courses and enrolled in the science program.
“我喜欢这里的校园、氛围和教授们. 我申请并被录取了，这是一个很容易的选择. 我的家人在这里，我也喜欢这所学校所代表的东西，”她说. “我和(前科学教授)布朗博士同时进入韦兰. Pereira和她给我讲了她关于盐摄入量的研究项目. She asked me if I liked charts and data and asked me to do research with her.”
对阿什利, 这个新项目不仅很有见地, 这很有启发性, 打开了一个与研究相关的职业可能性的全新世界. 一次偶然的邀请，化学教授. 加里
Gray to join a field trip to the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center changed her course permanently. 分子病理学硕士项目的报告敲定了这笔交易, 2015年她毕业两周后, 她在理工学院开始了这个项目.
2016年毕业后, 阿什利去了Microgen(前身为Pathogenius)工作。, 她最后几个月在哪里实习. She enjoyed the work there assisting physicians to diagnose and properly treat patients with bacterial and fungal infections. But after a few years she was looking for a new challenge when she learned of an opening at the DPS crime lab. 她申请了，其他的，当然，都是历史了.
追随梦想
与此同时, Mayra was working in the Plainview Walmart pharmacy and thought she could move from technician to pharmacist with education. It made sense to stay at her hometown university since she lived locally and had a husband and family already. 她报名参加了科学项目，只专注于她的课程.
她找到了她的解剖学和生理学教授. 戴德里安, about what she could do to stand out in graduate school and was directed to Wayland’s undergraduate research program, a unique place where students choose their own hands-on project and conduct all the review and research, 以一篇类似硕士论文的主要演讲和论文告终. 她加入了戴德里安的影子，然后有了自己的项目.
“我真的很喜欢做研究. If you go to a big university you may be the ‘push this button’ person or just inputting data,她回忆道。. “在韦兰，你要亲自动手做研究. I had my own mice to take care of and all those opportunities really helped me.”
Pereira saw Mayra’s love for research forming and suggested she look at the same molecular pathology program at Tech, 她觉得很合适. She applied and was accepted, starting soon after earning her WBU degree in 2018. 一位DPS分析师的演讲激起了她的兴趣, but he had also warned the department didn’t hire often due to employee longevity. But an Indeed email close to her 2019 graduation alerted to just the opposite: they were hiring, 她很感兴趣. 她还怀着她的第四个孩子, 但由于招聘过程漫长, Mayra interviewed three weeks after giving birth and started her job about two months later.
在幕后帮忙
在他们目前的角色中, Ashley和Mayra都认为这份工作既有挑战性又有回报, 这需要一些时间来适应. 一方面, 他们所做的研究代表了生活中的真实人物, 通常的创伤.
“You think about the pressure that people’s lives are at stake, whether in a good or bad sense. 头几个月有这些重病例, 我回到家，对此感到有点悲伤或忧郁,艾希礼回忆道. “My mom would say, ‘you are meant to be here and you can’t take it all home.’ Anyone who works in a field like this just has to learn how to compartmentalize it.”
控制自己的情绪是关键, 同意Mayra, who noted that the state provides training that helps employees stay unbiased while handling the extremely difficult cases. It’s a balance, she said, of being a human with normal emotions and being focused on the job at hand.
该实验室服务于76个县, though the analysts may handle work from other regions if they get backlogged. 而拉伯克实验室的其他人在处理枪支, 毒品和酒精测试还有指纹, 玛拉和阿什莉只关注房子里的DNA. 虽然他们不共享案例, 他们经常会就如何处理一个问题互相征求意见. 该实验室还会在分析师之间进行技术评估，以检查他们的工作, 两位女士都很欣赏这种对准确性的追求. 所有这些都是他们的工作如此有价值的部分原因.
“The most rewarding part for me would be being a piece of the overall puzzle in solving whatever case it is. 我已经上过几次法庭了, 我很高兴知道我的工作真的有所帮助, 是证明某人有罪还是证明某人无罪,玛拉说。.
“The scientists I used to watch growing up… that’s us now,” Ashley adds with a smile. “我们不可能在一个小时内解决这个问题，但我们确实在提供帮助.”
灵修:灵性沟通101
"凡求告耶和华的，就是诚心求告他的，耶和华都与他们相近.(诗篇145:18)
Communicating with society today insists of always being “on the go” and responding electronically via text/email/phone. 当我们通过这些方面进行交流时，我们往往会失去直接
与个人接触, which in time the connection slowly fades and it does not become personable.
大多数基督徒用祷告与神有一对一的时间来表达感谢, 提供请求, 或者只是简单地说. The one main aspect that all who utilize prayer need to understand is to speak from your heart. God listens to our hearts and when we do not call on Him with honesty, our prayers will not be heard.
他总是在我身边. 他知道你为什么呼求他. 但如果没有真相，这种联系就会慢慢消失.
Jeffrey Vera is a 2017 graduate of Wayland and serves as the Director of 校友 Relations at Wayland as of October 1. He worked in retail before coming to Wayland to complete his degree as a working adult, 然后在德州理工大学做了五年的招生和招聘工作. 他与玛西娅·拉莫斯(Marcia Ramos)订婚，是拉伯克的一名双职牧师.
在混合中
The Oxford Dictionary defines “education” as 1) The process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, 尤其是在学校或大学里, 2)有启发性的经历.
Education enables children to acquire academic achievements they will need to interpret life
situations, develop critical thinking, and make the best possible decisions. Don A的学生们. Williams School of Education receive the necessary tools to aspire in careers in elementary and secondary education.
作为校友关系总监, 我负责的项目之一就是把我们的校友聚集在一起, 同时可以帮助现在和未来的学生. “in the mix”意味着成为一名导师, 贡献你的时间来帮助学生的未来, 甚至还给他们奖学金. 如果你是教育学院的毕业生, 你是一个只有一个目标的人:分享一个共同的教学承诺, 基督教价值观与学术.
我很幸运有我的祖母(卡门·维拉), 1984年毕业于威斯康星大学)和母亲(约兰达·维拉), 1983年毕业于WBU，获教育学学位. 他们都想改变年轻学生的生活.
We here at the Office of Institutional Advancement want to hear your story about how the Don A. 威廉姆斯教育学院为你们的教学事业做出了贡献. You may have a few words for a former professor or want to contribute to a scholarship for a future teacher. 作为校友，你有机会回馈社会!
If you think you have a story or would like to donate funds to the School of Education, 请通过以下电子邮件与我们联系:
捐款: 琥珀色的.mccloud@evanmathieson.net
——杰弗里·维拉，校友关系主任
