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Melodee Mattson

Biography

Words have fascinated Melodee Mattson since she was four-years-old. In high school, she had weekly tutorials with teachers on philosophy, history, theology, literature, Latin, and logic. Someday she hopes to "provide the same kind of educational resource to students who hunger for true knowledge."

Melodee has taken mission trips since she was 14. One trip to Mozambique was especially eye-opening as she witnessed people living in severe poverty. Then, the following year she worked on a mission project in inner-city Chicago. "Conditions were in many ways as desperate as I saw in Africa." She returned to Billings and started Peacemaker Clubs, teaching conflict-resolution principles to local teenagers, using "puppets, skits, games, songs, and crafts." The teenagers then used those skills in working with local children.

The idea of using puppets and skits grew out of years of acting and directing plays. She sees drama as "a vehicle for telling good stories" and developed a week-long summer drama camp to teach acting to pre-teens and to help them stage a play. She also is entrepreneurial and since 1999 has tutored home-schooled students in Latin, writing, and history. She writes a monthly science newsletter for their families, "to promote science as fun, worthwhile, and doable. I want kids to be gripped by a wonder of the world around them at a young age."

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