For once, Melissa Crowley May isn’t reporting the news, she’s making it.
The longtime TV journalist for ABC 10 is coming to Natomas Unified as a teacher, creating and leading an academic pathway next fall for students interested in pursuing broadcasting arts or media in college or career.
“I’m thrilled,” she said, adding that she has fond memories of one of her high school teachers who reached out and got her involved in a broadcasting program year ago. “I just think the opportunity to do that would be fantastic.”
Known on TV by her maiden name, Melissa Crowley, she and husband Bryan May – also an ABC TV journalist — are the parents of two daughters, in 2nd and 6th grades. The family has lived in Natomas since 2001, and Mrs. May has been active in local activities ranging from volunteer art docent to high school media workshops and Friday Night Live.
At NUSD, Mrs. May will launch an academic pathway at Inderkum High School next year focusing on all facets of video production, from developing a story idea to writing, filming, editing, graphic arts, producing, directing, and broadcasting. Students will learn skills ranging from time management to public speaking, concise writing, and creation of video resumes, vital tools they can use in numerous professions besides TV production.
“Not only is she a true broadcast professional, she’s passionate about kids, about teaching, and about the Natomas community,” Superintendent Chris Evans said. “She lives here. Her kids go to school here. We’re thrilled to have her on our team. She exemplifies what we’re trying to do, provide first-class learning opportunities that set students up for lifetime success.”
Mrs. May, such a lover of writing that she has kept a journal since elementary school, said that she hopes to expand her broadcasting arts and media program to NUSD middle schools eventually – and perhaps to other campuses as well.
In NUSD’s push for college and career readiness, Mrs. May believes her nearly 20 years of journalism experience will fit right in. “I always thought my professors and teachers who made the most impact had real-world experience,” she said. “They told us, ‘This is what it’s really like” and they were able to talk about, ‘This is what you’ll do, these are the requirements,’” she said. “So you had a realistic expectation.”
Specifics of her program will develop in months to come, but conceptually, she envisions taping campus events, promoting positive campus developments, covering sports events, profiling student clubs, and producing a daily “Tiger Talk” newscast, among other things, as her classes learn and grow.
“I have a special passion for what I do, but especially to help students get real-world skills,” she said. “That, I think, is key. I’d like it to be a little cutting-edge, too.”
Teaching runs in Mrs. May’s family, apparently. Her brother Rick Crowley is a middle and high school honors history teacher in Jacksonville, Fla. Two other relatives, Aunt Charlene Bernick and Uncle Jerry Crowley, are retired teachers. Mrs. May said her own childhood was deeply affected by two caring teachers: Janet Veasey, who stirred her love for writing in second grade; and Ellen Boris, who helped expose her to TV reporting in high school.
Besides ABC 10, Mrs. May has hosted a PBS statewide political show, “California Capitol Week;” won a national award at a Nashville Fox affiliate for exposing animal dumping bins in Tennessee; and served as the morning anchor in Beaumont, Texas, where she met her husband. She worked at Walt Disney World in college and interned at CNN.
Mrs. May said she has thought about becoming a teacher for several years – and to do it in Natomas is exciting. NUSD has made rapid progress, it’s “really taking off” under Supt. Chris Evans’ leadership, and she wants to be a part of that, she said. “What we’re trying to do with career readiness, it just seems like a good fit,” she said.
“To have kids get an opportunity to follow their dreams, and to have it right here in Natomas, it’s so exciting,” she said.
