Like many college students, senior Tyrese Moore’s college experience didn’t exactly pan out as planned. 

Moore committed to play baseball at Simpson College late into his senior year at Waukee High School. He spoke to head coach Nathan Roling on a visit, who extended the opportunity to continue playing the sport he loved in college. 

But it wasn’t baseball alone that sold Simpson to Moore. 

“I like the education here at Simpson,” Moore said.  “It’s very education-based, and I like the small classes, which allows you to really get to know your professors and instructors.” 

Moore is pursuing his undergraduate degree in health and exercise science. He balanced life as a student-athlete until his junior year, where serious injuries to both of his shoulders caused a rather sudden end to his baseball career. 

He had his first Arthroscopic Labral Repair surgery on his left shoulder in August of 2018 and his right in September of 2020, prompting him to quit baseball before his junior year. 

“I was pretty down at first; I didn’t really want to quit baseball. That’s the reason why I came here,” Moore said. “I decided to stay because I had everything mapped out already. I was on track to graduate and didn’t really want to deal with everything involved with transferring. And, I like it here, so I decided to stay.” 

Simpson’s small campus community was part of the reason Moore chose to stay at Simpson post-injury.  

“I really like the smaller atmosphere, it’s just a close-knit community,” Moore said. “I’m just able to talk to friends whenever I go, or I can just walk over to people’s rooms easily to visit.”

Moore is grateful that Simpson’s community feel isn’t confined to his peers alone. 

He said his academic advisor, Cal Busby, was helpful in setting up the remainder of his undergraduate course load. 

“Inclusiveness with my professors is really helpful,” Moore said. “They are all really nice and easy to talk to. I’m able to go talk to them pretty much whenever about whatever.”

Although he no longer participates in Division III athletics, Moore has dabbled in intramurals. He says most of his time now is spent focusing on school work. He plans on pursuing a career in Orthotics post-graduation but says it is still unclear what he will specifically specialize in. 

“I want to stay in the health field, but also grad school is expensive,” Moore said. “I looked at it [orthotics] a little bit in high school; I had an internship at ChildServe in the orthotics section there, and I thought it was pretty cool so that sparked my interest.”

If Moore was able to sit down with his first-year self, he’d share some kind words of advice: 

“I would say to focus more on classes,” he said with a laugh. 

Aside from academic guidance, Moore would advise his former self, and first-year students in general, to make the most of the college experience. 

“I’d say really enjoy your time because it goes by quickly,” he said. “It feels like just yesterday that I was moving in freshman year into Kresge.” 

All things considered, Moore suggests that all Simpson students follow this small adage:

“Enjoy your time, and enjoy your friends.”