Q&A With Dr. Melissa Herder: Giving Back to the District that Helped Me Become the Person I am Today

This story is the first in a series of profiles of Camden students turned educators.  This series is sponsored by the Camden Education Fund.

Meet Melissa L. Herder, Ed.D, a special education teacher at Big Picture Learning Academy, one of the Camden School District’s magnet high schools.

A Camden native and 1996 graduate of Camden High School, Melissa says her upbringing in the city gives her greater understand about her students, their families and the challenges often they face. She is confident it’s had a positive influence on her teaching methods.

Her early education was varied, attending classes at the city’s Sacred Heart School and at the H.B. Wilson School; and later at St. Bartholomew Catholic School and the former Pyne Poynt Middle School. This, she says, also contributes to her perspective on education.
Today, Melissa and her husband Steven live in Lindenwold. She is the mother of a 23-year-old daughter Aiyana; a stepdaughter, Sydney, 18; and twin sons, Steven Jr. and Seth, both 10; and a grandson, Joey, age 3.

Here, in her own words, is Melissa Herder’s journey into a classroom of her own.

Q: What inspired you to become a teacher?

I knew as a child that I wanted to teach. I refused “play school” with my friends unless they let me be the teacher. I would prepare assignments, give homework and even ask for signatures for our field trips around our apartment complex.

In elementary school, I had an amazing 3rd grade teacher. She was kind, patient, funny and out-of-the-box. She knew how to keep me calm and to remind me how bright I was.
During two of my high school years, I was transferred to a private school in a nearby suburb. There, I had a teacher who made me feel I was not worthy because I was a Camden student receiving a tuition discount and free busing.

As a child, I didn’t realize this man was a bigot. He tried to make me feel inferior and stupid, although I had some of the highest test scores on that school’s entry exams. To this day, recalling that experience makes me cry. 

Those two teachers – one amazing person and one less amazing – helped me realize the kind of teacher that students truly need: One who inspires, loves, motivates them to accomplish anything.