CONTRIBUTED PHOTO — Melissa Mulder has spent years working with youth of all ages, backgrounds and abilities. This school year she has come aboard as the work experience coordinator, a special education position at Marshalltown High School.

Melissa Mulder has spent years working with youth of all ages, backgrounds and abilities. This school year she has come aboard as the work experience coordinator, a special education position at Marshalltown High School, for grades 9-12.

She will help students figure out their strengths and interests, plus coordinate internship and employment opportunities. These individuals may have mental, physical, learning and intellectual disabilities, and despite any of those challenges, Mulder is committed to ensuring they achieve their goals.

“I enjoy helping and guiding them — what they’ll do after they graduate. Because I know when I was getting ready to graduate, I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do. It’s a big decision, you know, trying to figure out what you’re going to do the rest of your life,” she noted.

A native of Marshalltown, Mulder is no stranger to working with youth. While employed at a preschool she decided to go back to school for teaching. She started working on a degree online through MCC, and then transferred to Iowa State University where in 2012 she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in early childhood education – unified.

In 2013, she got the opportunity to move to Garmisch, Bavaria, Germany where she worked at a child development center.

“That was a cool internship experience,” she said.

A Master of Arts degree in school library studies followed in 2014, awarded by the University of Northern Iowa. While there she worked as a graduate teaching assistant of educational technology classes.

“I commuted back and forth. Most of my classes were online, but I was on campus working with students who were preparing to become teachers,” she added.

Mulder then relocated to Logan, UT to attend Utah State University. There she earned a Master of Education in communicative disorders and deaf education, emphasis in listening and spoken language, in 2016.

“So teaching kids to listen and speak, and we didn’t have anything nearby like that, in the state of Iowa anyway, so I went out there and did that program, which was really great,” she said.

From August 2016 to July 2021, Mulder taught the deaf and hard of hearing at Prairie Lakes Area Education Agency. In August 2021 she got a position with the Marshalltown Community School District teaching library and computer sciences at Fisher Elementary School, doing so for about a year.

She then headed to the Iowa Valley Community College District in November 2022, where she remained before accepting her current role at MHS.

“I was working as a pre-employment transition coordinator with Iowa Valley as a contracted position with Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services,” she said. “So through that, I had been working at Marshalltown High School. So it’s pretty cool that I get to keep working with them, with the staff, and I’ll be working with some of the same students, doing a similar type position. It’ll just be a little bit different.”

In that role of itinerant teacher, she traveled the county, also serving the East Marshall and West Marshall school districts. In her new position, she will be solely headquartered at MHS.

“I’ve worked with a variety of ages — birth through grade 12. I’ve worked with college students before,” she said. “I’ve worked in a variety of places and a variety of settings. I’ve always enjoyed working with students and helping people.”

At MHS, she will instruct small groups of students in how to craft a resume, apply for jobs, learn skills and other how-tos.

When not in office, Mulder plans to be out in the community building connections with employers and helping to secure internships and jobs for her students. The work will require collaborating with pupils’ teachers and families. She noted that some might even secure part-time employment while still in high school. The bottom line is ensuring when these high schoolers graduate, a job or acceptance to higher education is waiting for them.

“I’m just really excited to be continuing (at MHS) with some of the same staff that are really great to work with and the students,” she said.