The daughter of two veterans, Melissa’s family moved to Norfolk over twenty years ago. After college Melissa worked as a special education teacher for ESU #8’s Eastern Learning Center in Norfolk for five years and co-founded and served as the vice president of a non-profit that worked to combat human trafficking and rehabilitate survivors in Nebraska. Melissa followed a call to seminary, and after graduating, she returned to Norfolk and continues to serve her community as a hospice chaplain and as an educator for children on the autism spectrum.

In November 2022, Melissa was elected to the board of directors for the Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District where she has worked to address District 19’s high level of nitrates. As a director Melissa has advocated for good stewardship of the groundwater, regenerative ag practices, flood protection, and outdoor recreation opportunities for our region. As a leader, Melissa stands up for our constitutional freedoms. She has fought for greater government transparency, integrity, and accountability and is a fierce defender of our First Amendment rights. She filed a federal lawsuit last year to help protect those civil liberties for others. 

Melissa currently serves as the vice president of the Norfolk Parks and Recreation board and recently joined the board of The Connections Project, a peer-run non-profit for individuals with mental health and/or substance abuse challenges. Melissa is active with the Norfolk Community Theater, Norfolk Connect, the Nebraska Organizing Project, and was selected as one of Norfolk’s 2024 “Top 20 Under 40.” In her free time Melissa coaches gymnastics at the YMCA, enjoys the outdoors walking the Cowboy Trail with her family, and recently completed Norfolk 101 Citizen’s Academy training.

These many community connections have shaped Melissa’s perception of life in the 19th District and the diverse challenges and needs of this area. She has spent the past few years listening to and learning from citizens in the community who represent all walks of life. In the legislature she will work to promote rural healthcare access, keep our public schools and community colleges well funded, address our affordable housing and childcare crisis, be an advocate for folks with disabilities and mental health challenges, recommend responsible tax reform, and partner with producers to address the rising nitrates in our groundwater. Melissa will be an independent voice for the people of this district and work to make it a place everyone wants to come back home to.

Melissa attended Northeast Community College before transferring to Indiana Wesleyan University where she graduated with a B.S. in Exceptional Needs Education. She holds an M.A. in Social Justice and M.A. (ABT) in Innovation and Leadership from Kilns College in Bend, Oregon. She most recently attended Princeton Theological Seminary, where she earned an M.Div. with a focus on ethics and political theology and an M.A. in Christian Education with a focus on ecology. While at Princeton Melissa took classes in political leadership and public policy at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and was a fellow in Religion, Diplomacy, and International Affairs at Princeton University’s Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination.  Melissa is an alumni fellow with the Fellowship at Auschwitz for the study of Professional Ethics (FASPE) and a candidate for ordination with the Presbyterian Church (USA).