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Melanie was the daughter of Dr. Christine McFadden and Dr. Thomas Willis. She attended Our Lady of Mercy School from kindergarten through eighth grade. Melanie was a tremendous scholar, excelling in numerous academic achievements. While in grammar school, Melanie participated in, and was finalist in many spelling bees. She received the Governor’s Award for Academic Excellence each year, and was a member of the Junior California Scholarship Federation. She received numerous awards for speech and writing, was awarded the President’s Award for Academic Excellence, and was the recipient of the National Merit Scholar Association award. Melanie was actively involved in Golden Valley High School, taking all of the honor level and advanced placement courses available, and was a member of the leadership classes. Melanie was selected to attend the Rotary Leadership Camp in 2002. She was a member of the Junior Varsity Cheerleading Squad her freshman and sophomore year. Melanie choreographed the halftime dance numbers, and led her junior class to winning the “Most Spirited Class” Award. Melanie was number two in her junior class with a 4.5 Grade Point Average. She was actively working to attend Stanford University after graduation. Melanie was an accomplished dancer, having studied ballet for 12 years at the Merced Academy of Dance. She performed in numerous shows including Coppela and Alice in Wonderland. She attended summer school ballet with the San Jose Company, and was applying to attend an advanced summer school ballet. Melanie was extremely close and involved with her mother, brothers, and sister. She was a tremendous role model for her siblings, and set a hard standard to follow with all of her academic and social accomplishments. She had a large group of friends while maintaining a very close knit relationship with a special group of friends from elementary school. She was a very kind, generous, strong-willed, independent, exceptionally intelligent and motivated young woman who was widely loved and admired. |
