KNOW & Tell
KEEPING YOU
INFORMED
First, we want to thank you for being a member of
the preeminent education organization in Georgia, the
Georgia Association of Educators. Your membership
with GAE signals your dedication to your profession
and the students you work with every day. It indicates
your desire to opt-in to the discussions on what affects
your learning and working environments and the need
to take action when necessary to ensure your voice -
that of the practitioner – is heard.
Important to the process of keeping you informed
are the methods we provide to communicate to you.
This includes our award-winning magazine KNOW,
available to you in both print and digital formats, your
website – www.gae.org, and our very resourceful
electronic newsletters. The latter is sent to you more
frequently in the form of Legislative Hotlines and Alerts
during the important Georgia General Assemblies. Also,
you receive our award-winning monthly GAEVoices
enewsletter. In all cases we keep in mind your
sensitivity to filling up your inbox.
To ensure that you do receive the information you
deem important, there are two things that we
respectfully ask of you. First and foremost we need
valid, personal email addresses. Workplace emails
often have blocking applied to them that stop our
emails from reaching you. That problem is eliminated
with a personal email. To check and update your
profile you can visit www.gae.org/myprofile or call our
membership department at 678-837-1100.
Second, it is important you know that if you have
opted-out of a previous email because of a topic not
of interest to you at that time, you, unfortunately, have
opted-out of our email system all together and cannot
receive emails that may be of interest to you. We
realize that will sometimes occur, but simply ask that
you not cut yourself off from the conversation.
Also, please realize that if you have forwarded an email
that was initially sent to you and that person chooses
to opt-out, he/she actually is opting you out because
you were the email’s original recipient.
The good news is that there are two methods by which
you can opt back into the system. One is to send an
email to getinvolved@gae.org stating you give us
permission to opt you back in. Second, you can click
the “Manage your preferences” link at the bottom of
any old mailing you may have received. You will receive
an email asking you to confirm opt-in and you then
click through for this option to work. If you have any
questions, please contact us at getinvolved@gae.org.
GAE is only as effective as its members are informed.
Stay engaged in the conversation. Update your profile
information as soon as you can. And once again,
thank you for being a member of GAE! See you on
the frontlines!
GAE MEMBER WINS MS. GEORGIA
SENIOR AMERICA
By Carolyn Crist
Although Dr. Rhonda Moulder has
participated in and won pageants
since age 6, she’s particularly proud
to be named Ms. Georgia Senior
America because of a unique aspect
of the competition — the philosophy
of life section.
The Ms. Georgia Senior America
pageant, which is open to Georgians
over age 60, features four
components, including an interview,
talent, evening dress and philosophy
of life. Participants write and perform
their own speeches, and Moulder
appreciates the experience and
wisdom that each woman brings to
the stage. As part of her philosophy,
Moulder talks about positivity.
“As an assistant principal in public
schools, I’ve seen positivity help
children, and I always talked with
them about it, no matter what
negativity or discipline scenario they
experienced,” she said. “We all have
good and bad days, and positivity
can help you focus on your specific
purpose in life.”
Moulder, who served as an assistant
principal at David A. Perdue Primary and David A.
Perdue Elementary School in the Houston County
School System in Warner Robins for 33 years, will
compete in the 40th Annual Ms. Senior America
National Pageant in Atlantic City in October. As part of
her Georgia title, she travels to assisted living homes
across the state to meet seniors and play piano for
them. She also speaks throughout the state and has
thrown the first pitch at a Macon Bacon baseball game.
Moulder hails from Colquitt, Georgia, where she was
first crowned Miss Colquitt. Her other titles include Ms.
Georgia State Clogger 2008 and 2010, Ms. American
Clogger 2011, Ms. Bibb County Forestry 2013,
Ms. Georgia Strawberry Queen 2013, International
Cherry Blossom Senior Queen 2014, Ms. Houston
County Forestry 2014 and Ms. U.S. National Forestry
Queen 2014.
As a volunteer, Moulder is a coordinator for the
International Cherry Blossom Festival in Macon and
helps elementary and middle school students prepare
for pageants, where she judges at the local, state and
national levels. As a member of the Georgia Association
of Educators, Moulder volunteers with the Georgia
State Spelling Bee Committee and serves as a Region
6 Consultant. As assistant principal, she coordinated
the spelling bee for her district for many years and
began coordinating the Region 6 event in 2016.
“GAE values teachers and what they do,” she said.
“GAE keeps teachers informed, stands up for teachers’
rights, and gives them a voice.”
Moulder highly values education and the role that
teachers’ play. She graduated from Wesleyan College
in Macon with a music education degree, followed by
a master’s and specialist degree in early childhood
education from Mercer University and a doctorate in
educational leadership from Argosy University in Atlanta.
Although she retired from the public school system,
Moulder is still passionately involved with education.
She is an adjunct professor and university supervisor
of practicum and student teachers at Mercer
University. She’s also a part-time school administrator
in the Houston County School System who substitutes
for administrators when they are temporarily away
from the office.
“I enjoy staying abreast of everything going on in
education,” she said. “I want teachers to have an
enthusiasm for teaching and continue to love and
support those children in the classroom.”
6 | KNOW • Volume 17 Issue 2
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