While she was growing up, she spent most of her time playing. She did learn to play the piano along with her 4 other siblings, but she says she was never very good at it. She also spent a couple years in the high school color guard which she thought was very fun. Mostly though she worked on her grades and figuring out what she wanted to be when she grew up.
During her Junior year of high school she heard of an opportunity to leave high school and attend the Jordan Tech Center. Here she could get her nursing assistance license. She knew she wanted to be a doctor so she jumped at the chance. What she found was that she didn't really like changing bed pans. She also questioned the amount of schooling she would need to put in to become a doctor and decided that probably was not the right path for her. So she returned to school for her Senior year.
She ended up taking a Human Biology class. While there, she heard about an opportunity to become a surgical technician. She got excited and felt this could be a good fit for her personality. She would assist the doctors during the surgery. It would be in the medical field without having to deal with patient issues. She didn’t mind the blood and guts and enjoyed learning about the human body. So she began the program. After two years she had her surgical technician's license along with her associated degree. She loved and worked at Cottonwood Hospital until she graduated from college 6 years later.
Melissa wanted to continue schooling and get her bachelor's degree. At that time she was still attending her home ward and thoroughly enjoying teaching Primary. One day while lying in bed thinking it dawned on her that she should do something with children. So she enrolled at the U of U in their Human Development program.
From here it almost seemed that to teach younger children would be the natural progression for her. After 5 years of school and with a Human Studies degree under her belt she spent 1 more year getting her teaching certificate in early childhood education. This allowed her able to teach kindergarten through 3rd grade. She said one of the most fun things that happened while getting her degree was doing her student teaching during the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. The teacher she was working with was volunteering for the Olympics so she left Melissa alone with the class a few times and Melissa gained valuable experience.
After graduating, Melissa landed her first teaching job in Tooele Utah of all places. She didn't want to commute each day from West Jordan so she moved into an apartment in Magna. That was her first experience living away from home. She said it was a great experience where she learned a lot about herself. She attended a singles ward without knowing anyone and she really started listening to the Sunday School lessons without the distractions from friends. Her testimony grew by leaps and bounds and she became more firm in her commitment to the gospel
After a year in Magna she decided she needed a change. So she bravely built a townhouse in Sandy. She had 2 girlfriends that were going to move in with her, but both girls bailed on her right after she closed on the home. Her younger sister decided it was time for her to move out of mom and dad’s and moved in with her. Melissa’s sister was an answer to her prayers.
She was still commuting to Tooele. She was enjoying great success as a teacher and lost some weight. She was feeling good about herself and decided she would really start putting herself out there for meeting someone to date. She joined LDSsingles.com at the age of 26.
It just so happened that another 26 year old was on the site, Scott Newman, and looking for a reason to get leave the site. He was tired of dating and meeting weird people. He came across Melissa's page and made the comment, " Looking good at 26. " It made her smile. They talked on the phone a couple of times and then went out. After that they were together every day. In fact, after they had known each other 10 days Melissa's mother made the comment "You're going to marry him aren't you?" and Melissa said, "Yes, I am." They met in February and were married the following July.
Five days before they were married, Melissa took a new job at a year-round school in West Jordan. Scott was doing an internship in Orem but it never turned into a real job. He found one in Ogden. The long commute in opposite directions wasn't working so they started looking for a place to live a little more central between Ogden and West Jordan. They came upon a new community of starter homes in Kaysville by the Angel Street Park. They built a new home and moved in.
Melissa didn’t want a long commute to West Jordan and started the job search again and found her dream job. She began teaching in a gifted and talented program at Whittier Elementary in Salt Lake City. She taught there for two years. At the start of her second year she had a baby, Ethan. It was hard on her to leave him everyday. Melissa had the desire to stay home with Ethan and Scott had an opportunity to start a new job. So Scott and Melissa quit their jobs. Luckily, she just so happened to become acquainted with a family who wanted to homeschool their children and hired Melissa as their teacher to teach them. Melissa was able to take Ethan with her to work. A job Melissa was able to do for 2 years.
Scott’s new job was a traveling job which supported them, but he was gone a lot and she became like a single mom. She was ok with it though, because it allowed her to stay home with the kids. It did, however, provide them with opportunities to travel together and with their kids because of all the sky miles Scott racked up. During this time Emma joined the family.
After living that way for nearly four years however, Melissa realized she had become depressed and needed help at home. So Scott found a job writing curriculum for Juniper Networks. He went from being gone all the time to working at home. Melissa says she is so grateful during that time to have had a wonderful visiting teacher who made it a point to be her friend. She said she wouldn't have made it through without her.
After 8 years of living in their starter home, they had added another child, Erin to their family and they were bursting at the seams. They needed a bigger home. Melissa also had a feeling that another child was waiting to come to their family, so they needed something different. They had been through the Symphony home model in this neighborhood but felt it was a bit overpriced.
Then one day Scott stopped into the Woodside model home and he knew immediately that Melissa would love it. It was everything they were looking for in a home. So they put their money down and again built a home. This gave them the space to add one more child, Edie, to their family.
Melissa says she loves our neighborhood and feels more at home here than she did after 8 years in her previous one. She loves how so many people here are in the same station of life as she is and that there are so many friends for her kids to play with. She also loves how everyone tries to be friendly and instead of one friend to count on, she has many people who she can go to when she needs help.
She also loves her calling, counselor in the Relief Society presidency. She says being in Relief Society has built her testimony and that the 3rd hour of church is her favorite. She is grateful for how being in this calling has made her reach out and get to know people instead of her being shy and keeping to herself. She says it has also helped her be a better person and not as critical.
How lucky we are to have Melissa in our ward. She is a very loving person and a worker. She genuinely wants to help others. We're glad she has her calling too and we've been able to get to know her better!
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