Melissa Peeples-Fullmore ’91

Melissa Peeples-Fullmore ’91 is the 2015 recipient of the Career Achievement Award from Milton Hershey School. She currently serves as a program officer for a non-profit that helps develop aspiring principals and their teams in urban public schools. She teaches university classes and oversees a staff of leadership development specialists who coach new principals during their first few years.

She has worked in education for 18 years in various roles, including as a principal in Tallahassee, Fla., where she led her school to the highest learning gains in the district. She also was instrumental in the passage of legislation in Florida to ensure educational equality.

Peeples-Fullmore says her experiences at Milton Hershey School taught her how to deal with many different people.

“Living in a home with so many personalities was great practice for being the manager of a large, diverse staff.”

She says if she could say something to Milton Hershey it would be, “ Thank you for modeling true altruism. Thank you for believing in the power of the mix of education and hard work to change the trajectory of a person. Thank you for not giving up after each failure. Thank you for teaching me that anything is possible.”