Melissa English-Rias has been a front-line interpreter with the National Park Service for 29 years. She is the Project Manager for the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail. She assists the Trail staff in planning and facilitating the 50th Anniversary Commemorative Events. She began her NPS career as an undergraduate student at Ninety Six National Historic Site while attending Lander University in Greenwood, SC in 1986. She graduated with a BA Degree in History. Through a cooperative education program she attended Western Kentucky University and worked at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky and received a Masters of Public Administration.
Melissa spent the majority of her NPS career as an Interpretive Specialist and Chief of Interpretation at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta, Georgia. She has also served as Acting Superintendent of De Soto National Memorial, Bradenton, Florida. Her permanent job is a staff park ranger in the Southeast Regional Office of the National Park Service in Atlanta, Georgia.
Melissa spends her spare time as Cubmaster of Pack 712 in McDonough, Georgia and with her twin sons Bazlee and Bailee.
Presentation Title: Bringing Our Trail History to Life
E-mail: melissa_english-rias@nps.gov
