Dr. Melina Lesus is a 2023-2024 Teach Plus Chicago Change Agent. Melina is a National Board Certified English teacher who teaches Latiné and African American Literature at George Westinghouse College Prep, where she also serves as an instructional coach, the service learning coordinator, the local school council teacher representative and the union delegate. She has been teaching for 15 years and has taught all levels of high school English as well as AVID classes. Melina successfully completed Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s Bard Core program and Stanford University’s Hollyhock Fellowship and served as a Stanford University Hollyhock Leading Fellow. Melina has earned all of her degrees from the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she is also an adjunct instructor. She graduated with her BA in the teaching of English, followed by her MA in English Education and her PhD in Language, Literacy, and Culture.
