Melanie Wood
- Berklee College of Music
- Northside High School, Warner Robins, Georgia
Melanie explains that music and parental and teacher support assisted her in overcoming bullies. To assist all 1,800 students in her school with combatting bullying, Melanie founded the Anti-Defamation League’s No Place for Hate Anti-Bullying Club. No Place for Hate also includes a bullying prevention program, Read4Respect. Read4Respect volunteers work with elementary school students to promote literary and inclusion. Melanie has delivered speeches to over 125 fourth and fifth graders about overcoming bullying and sharing one’s experiences with bullying with an adult. Melanie serves as the class president, and she is a member of the Beta Club and the Northside Thespian Troupe. Melanie was also named Miss Northside High School 2015, Teen Miss Georgia Peach 2015, and Miss Dogwood 2016.