I have been teaching Health Education for 16 years. I also teach pre-service teachers at the university level. It is exciting to teach new teachers how to make their classrooms come alive with quality, fun health education strategies

I believe Health class should be skills based. Almost all of my materials are student-centered and I want my students to have fun in class. I call myself an Edutainer. I try to entertain them while they learn.

2004 Pennsylvania Health teacher of the year (PSAHPERD) 2012 Eastern District Health teacher of the year (AAHPERD)

B.S. in Kinesiology from Penn State University M.Ed. in Chemical Dependency Counseling from Penn State University

Melanie Lynch graduated from Penn State University with a Bachelor's degree in Kinesiology. She then earned her Master's degree at Penn State in Counselor Education with an emphasis on eating disorders and chemical dependency. Melanie is in her 16th year as a Health Education Specialist at State College Area High School. Melanie is also an adjunct professor at Penn State, teaching Kinesiology courses. In 2004, PSAHPERD named Melanie Pennsylvania's health educator of the year. Currently, Melanie is serving as Vice-President of Health Education for PSAHPERD. Melanie has most recently been named the Easter District’s 2012 Health Teacher of the Year by AAHPERD. Melanie has restructured her curriculum to include eating disorders and body image lessons for her students. In addition to her teaching duties, Melanie has served on her school's SAP (Student Assistance Program) team for the past fifteen years, implementing programs to educate every new teacher in her district on the dangers of eating disorders and how to identify students struggling with food and weight issues. Currently, Melanie is the chairperson for the North building SAP team. As a program coordinator for NEDA (National Eating Disorders Association), she frequently presents programs on eating disorders awareness and prevention at the local, state, and national levels. Melanie has set up informational booths in local malls and also has done radio talk promotion to educate the community on eating disorders. She has been published in a professional journal with one of her eating disorder articles. Also, Melanie organizes a Love your body week every year at State High to help students gain an appreciation of their body for what it is, not what the media tries to sell to them. In addition to her eating disorder work, she is a CDC teacher/trainer for HEAP (Health Education Assessment Project). She travels all over the state training other teachers how to make their health classes more enjoyable and aligned with the National Health Education Standards. Melanie has also served as a faculty member for the Pennsylvania Governor's Institute for Health Education.