Melanie Rhoads, currently a fellowship recipient of the North Carolina Principal Fellows
Program, is a full-time graduate student in the Master in School Administration program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has also attended Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, earning a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education in 1987 and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration/International Business with a minor in French in 1983.

The first eight years of her career have been as an educator with Wake County Public Schools in Raleigh, NC. Initially, she instructed first graders at Wiley International Magnet School where she also taught electives in Beginning French, Problem Solving, and Schools Around the World. Her next seven years were spent at North Ridge Elementary School where she had a variety of educational opportunities. There she taught Kindergarten, Fourth, and Fifth grade students, and spent one year teaching a multi-age class of Fourth and Fifth graders.

Additionally, she had a variety of leadership opportunities at North Ridge. As a member, and subsequently chairman of, the Technology Committee, she developed skills in using technology as an educational and a management tool and oriented others toward doing the same. As chairman of the Grant Writing Committee she was the grants contact person for the school and wrote several grant proposals. She also chaired the Professionalized Staff Development Committee, was Secretary of the Core Team for the School Improvement Planning process, and was bookkeeper from 1993-95 for the Differentiated Pay funds which were allocated to North Carolina public schools.

In her spare time, which is practically nil while in graduate school, Melanie loves to go to the beach, read, and/or play racquet sports. She is also a residential contractor, and as such is President of Keystone Homes, Inc., a residential builder located in Cary, NC.

Melanie has a deep commitment to the premise of public schools being the venue for all students to receive quality educations. She is looking forward to working toward realizing this ideal as a public school administrator.