I have a long history with teaching, and have always been an educator at heart.

In elementary school and high school, at the urging of former teachers, I tutored younger students, and in college I volunteered with America Reads, visiting local elemetnary schools to tutor students one-on-one.

After graduating from college at UC Berkeley with a double major in English and Anthropology, I joined US Space Camp California as a counselor. (Most fun job ever!) 

After Space Camp California sadly had to close, I transitioned to a job with NASA, running the Educator Resource Center at NASA Ames in Mountain View, teaching teachers about NASA resources, loaning out moon rock samples to schools, and conducting workshops. (Other most fun job ever!) But I missed working with kids. And I also realized that I wanted more education myself. 

At that time there was an extreme teacher shortage in CA, so I enrolled in a credentialling program through the San Joaquin County Office of Education, and received an "emergency" credential. I taught for a year at a charter school serving homeschooling families. I met with my roster of students individually, some weekly, some monthly, to assign and monitor their work, and help guide their parent with the academic resources they needed. I learned a lot. I enjoyed helping my families navigate their personal paths in education, but I also realized during this time that I still wanted more education myself. 

I applied to law school, planning to potentially practice education law. During law school at UOP McGeorge in Sacramento, I volunteered for another AmeriCorps program, tutoring reading for local children at an after-school program just down the street. A year later, I took over running the volunteer program. After graduating, I accepted an Education Law Fellowship from local law firm Downey Brand, to continue my education beyond my JD, and I earned an LLM in Government Law and Policy. During my LLM studies, I led the tutoring program of McGeorge's Pipeline Project, which paired law student mentors with local high school students interested in a future legal education. Other arms of that program taught constitutional law to high schoolers and ran a high school moot court program. It was a fantastic success that we were incredibly proud of. 

While in law school I met my husband, David. We married, and when I sat for the Bar Exam I was pregnant with our first son. An incredible federal clerkship opportunity for David took us to Texas for three years, and I put work aside to stay home with our first son and, soon, our second son (born in Texas!), too.

When we moved back to California, our first son was ready for preschool, and our second son was still just a baby. We found Gift of Kids Preschool, an absolutely wonderful fit for us, and I got to see my oldest child become a student. He would come home and play school with us -- he was the teacher assigning tasks and giving us math problems -- it was clear he loved school. And I realized that I didn't want to be far from that world with him.

When he started Kindergarten at William Brooks Elementary, I could have gone back to work to practice law. But I chose to stay where my children were. I wanted to be with them and help their school as much as I could. I began by volunteering in the kindergarten classroom, helping guide small group activities during morning rotations. In first grade, I volunteered for the school's art docent program to be the parent art teacher, prepping and teaching monthly art projects to the class. I eventually began running the art docent program, helping other parent volunteers get started in their children's classrooms, and I've now been the "art parent" for each of my children's classes every year for the past ten years. We soon had two more boys, and with four boys all spaced two years apart it was a busy time for us! Volunteering each day at school kept me close to my kids, and also felt like home. 

In 2018 I reached back to my NASA years and applied for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our school to receive a video call from an astronaut on the International Space Station. We planned a year of space-related learning around the big event, and on a cold day in February of 2018, Brooks and Buckeye Elementary students were able to gather in the gym to speak live to a NASA astronaut as she floated before us on the big screen. 

That very day I was approached by board member Yoffie, who wanted to talk about the future of the Buckeye Education Foundation. He and a group of parents had founded the non-profit about 10 years earlier, during a time of financial crisis for school districts everywhere. A true testament to the resilience of our community, and the value we place on education, the Foundation organizers were able to bring the community together to fundraise and build the organization into a significant source of additional funding for the district, to offset state budget cuts and enable our schools to hold on to the library and PE programs that were about to be cut. I agreed to step up as the Foundation's next president, and in addition to district grants, have added community events and a teacher and staff grant program to further support our schools. (You can read all about our history and programs on the Buckeye Foundation's website.)

Last year I reached back again to my NASA years to help Brooks transform its unused computer lab (students have computers in their classrooms now) into a STEAM lab, where we started a weekly club, integrating science, technology, engineering, art, and math into fun, hands-on projects. I'm excited to be running the STEAM Club again this year, and the kids are excited to come back, too! 

And that brings us to the present! I've been regularly attending BUSD board meetings for years, since my work directing the Foundation requires that I stay on top of district operation so that I can help identify any emerging needs, or ways we can otherwise contribute to the enrichment of our schools. When Gloria Silva told me she was stepping down (after many years of incredibly loving and dedicated service to our schools), and urged me to consider running for her seat, I took it to heart. I realized that I had inadvertently been training for this next chapter of my own volunteer service to Buckeye schools. And I've accepted the challenge. 

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Email me: melissakeyzer4buckeye@gmail.com