“Life is what you make it.”
Melissa Sharp, Junction City High School (JCHS) Principal, was a first generation college student that wanted to make a difference in the lives of others.
“Neither one of my parents graduated from high school, but they were always pushing university on me, they were always pushing education [on me]…once you have that diploma, once you have that degree – that’s something you have forever and you don’t need anybody else to make you successful in life, you can do it all by yourself,” said Sharp.
Sharp, a former coach, said that she’s carried many of her principles learned early on in coaching into her role as Principal of JCHS.
“I just coach people to aspire to be more than they think they can be,” said Sharp. “I’m not the most talented person on the basketball court, I’m not the most athletic, I’m not the best read person in the room – but I do believe that I am purposeful in my work, I do believe that I work hard and I care about my job, and I hope that people see that about me.”
With the prospect of a new high school in the near future, Sharp is excited for her students and the possibilities of the future.
“I’m anxious to find out what we’re going to do with the high school, that’s exciting to me [because] a lot of principals don’t get to do that; that was exciting to me as the Freshman Academy Principal,” said Sharp.
Sharp says her immediate goals are to finish her dissertation for her Doctorate degree and to maintain a close relationship with her son who will begin his freshman year at Kansas University this fall, and to maintain her relationships with staff and students.
“As a teacher you have a shadow of influence within your classroom, or as a coach you have a shadow of influence with your athletes; and as you move to different positions in education your shadow becomes larger…I have the ability now to put the right people into positions to cast their own shadow,” said Sharp.
For her son: “I want him to dream for himself, I want it to be bigger than I could even imagine,and I want him to be happy,” said Sharp.
Originally from Levelland, Texas, when asked ‘where are you from/what do you call home’, Sharp always says Junction City.
“I love my job, I love this district.”