Melissa Elston is an assistant professor at Palo Alto College, where she teaches writing and literature courses. Before returning home to sunny San Antonio (her birthplace), she served as Writing Center Coordinator and assistant professor at Northwest Missouri State University.

A proud community college graduate herself, she later went on to earn a Ph.D. in English from Texas A&M University, as well as an M.A. in English from the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, and a bachelor’s in journalism from West Texas A&M University. She is passionate about her involvement with each year’s Catch the Next cohort, as well as the mission of community colleges. “A community college ‘turned me around’ as a teenager,” she says. “They help people dream bigger dreams than they’d previously thought possible — and those dreams, in turn, become changed lives.”

In her spare time, Dr. Elston enjoys hiking and camping; playing board, table-top, and video games; and browsing the shelves at secondhand bookstores.