When Lauren Melkonian was a teen, she worked at a family fun center. One day she had to take off her new pair of shoes to climb up the jungle gym to find a lost child. She returned to find a smaller version of her shoes in place of the ones she had left. “Somewhere in the world, someone was wearing shoes that were too big for them,” Melkonian said, “but I’m sure they grew into them eventually.”
Looking back on herself in high school, Melkonian sees herself as a band geek. She was in the marching band where she played the cymbals for the drumline in addition to playing the alto saxophone. In high school, Melkonian was on an IEP. Her personal experiences in special education led her to dream of becoming a teacher and eventually a special educator.
Melkonian went to college at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls where she got her bachelor’s degree of science in agriculture education. Eventually, she moved to New Hampshire, where she worked teaching after school activities as well as working with horses. From these experiences, she feels that she could “teach an equine or horse science class or just about anything horticulture.”
Melkonian met her husband during this period of time and they moved to Montpelier almost two years ago to raise their kid: “I have a two-year-old son named Wesley and he’s awesome.”
When Melkonian came for her second interview, it was Senior Prank Day. As she walked inside, she heard “crazy music happening in the atrium and it was so fun and everyone was happy. All I could think was ‘I need to be a part of this school.’” The positive environment that Melkonian witnessed inspired her to take the job as a special educator at U-32.
Melkonian hopes to one day have the opportunity to get involved with sports at U-32. “I love soccer, I would love to coach soccer, I’m a goalie,” she said. “I could also potentially see myself coaching basketball.”
Melkonian is also a football fan, specifically the Philadelphia Eagles: “I am super pumped that they won the Super Bowl!”
