Melody Gibson Email & Phone Number

I love thinking creatively to solve complex challenges for a mission. During my K-12 schooling, I was strong in both the STEM subjects and visual arts, but did not necessarily enjoy my classes. I decided to try majoring in architecture in college as it combined my academic strengths and the work was nothing like what I did in high school. I thoroughly enjoyed the new ways I got to think creatively and visually problem-solve as I designed buildings.During my last year of architecture school, my project was to create a program for a school and then to design a building for it. As I researched education, I grew concerned about the issue of educational inequity and how it is perpetuating the cycle of poverty. This was in 2008 when the recession was beginning to hit the architecture field hard. I decided to pursue Teach For America as a temporary career path as I was drawn to its mission to expand opportunity for all children through exceptional education. While Teach For America was a two year commitment I ended up teaching high school math for seven years.During my time in the classroom, I was faced with the challenge of teaching high school level math to students who were behind grade level and facing barriers to learning due to the impacts of poverty. I poured my creativity into my lesson plans to meet the unique needs of my students and developed skills in goal setting, long-term planning, relationship building, adapting to challenges in the moment, and managing an enormous workload. I applied all of these skills to my next role at the Civic Design Center where I was hired to develop an education curriculum that would teach place-based urban planning and civic action and reach all students in Metro Nashville Public Schools. I face this unique challenge with creative thinking, strategic planning, and relationship building. The curriculum has grown to reach over 2,000 students in Metro Nashville Public Schools annually and proven to increase socio-emotional development in students.During my time at the Design Center, I also collaborated with my research partners at Vanderbilt University to create a high school internship that uses community research, urban design, and tactical urbanism to increase youth wellness in Nashville’s neighborhoods.

Listed skills include Educational Leadership, Teaching, Classroom Management, Lesson Planning, and 7 others.