Melanie Meadows
Melanie Meadows is a 1997 graduate of St. Albans High School, and an alumni of McKinley Jr. High and Nitro Elementary. She holds a B.S. in Accounting from Concord College (now Concord University) and currently serves as the Treasurer for Kanawha County Schools.
Melanie, who is a Certified Public Accountant, is approaching her 20th year working in school finance. Prior to her tenure with KCS, she worked for RESA3 and the WV Department of Education. She has been married 15 years, and has a grumpy 15 year old cat!
When asked about her favorite KCS teacher, Melanie said “My favorite teacher always and forever was SAHS (now retired) teacher Delbert Brannon. He taught history and a legal class. We watched the OJ Simpson verdict come in and did a mock trial. He was tough, but fair.”
Melanie would also like to share the following advice with current students, “Believe in yourself...you can do it. Keep going. Be kind.”
Brytani Patterson
Brytani Patterson is a 2019 graduate of St. Albans High School, and an alumni of McKinley Middle School and Alban Elementary School.
While in high school, Brittany served as the Senior Class President. She was also elected as class Vice President during her sophomore and junior years. Additionally, she was a member of three different dance teams, the SAHS cheerleading team and was a 2015 middle school county track champion. Personally, she is most proud of her love and pride for St. Albans.
Currently Brytani serves as an assistant track coach at McKinley Middle School, where the boys and girls teams were both county runner-ups in 2021. She dedicated five years to coaching little league cheer in St. Albans. She aspires to share her love for cheerleading and track with the youth of St. Albans, and produce better athletes and people. Her goal is to give back to a community that gave so much to her.
When asked about her favorite KCS teachers, Brytani said “My favorite teacher is my former dance class teacher and dance coach at SAHS, Amy Trent. My love for performing and dancing continues post high school because of her. My other favorite teacher is my freshman and senior English teacher, Mrs Klingshirn at SAHS. Mrs Klingshirn wrote a letter for my class, starting our freshman year, that we didn’t know about until it was presented to us as seniors.“
Brytani has some advice to share with current students. “No matter how far you may go, you’ll always know your way back home,” she said. “Fill out FAFSA and just enjoy school and have fun, you only get to be a student once!”
Samantha Shuck
Samantha Shuck is a 2019 graduate of St. Albans High School. She is currently attending Marshall University, where she is majoring in Business Management.
In addition to attending Marshall, Samantha works full-time at Todd Judy Ford as a Business Development Agent. While balancing school and work can be difficult, Samantha has maintained good grades, making the Dean’s List last semester.
When asked about her favorite KCS teachers, Samantha said, “Each teacher I had at KCS was absolutely amazing and always personalized their relationships with each student. I am so thankful for Debbie Moore, who always made sure to go above and beyond for myself and many other students.”
Samantha also had some advice to share with current students, “Enjoy each moment, I would love to be waking up for a school day anticipating the bell ringing at the end of the day. It’s only been a few years but the simplicity of high school I will always miss the most.”
She added “I myself wished it away, and now that I’ve graduated, I realize everyone was right. It goes by with just one blink. Hug your friends, I miss seeing them everyday. Even the ones you don’t think you’ll miss.”
Katie Walker
Katie Walker is a 2017 graduate of St. Albans High School. In 2021, she received a B.S. in Accounting and Business Administration, with an emphasis in Management, from the University of Charleston. She currently works as an Accounting Associate for Messer & Associates, AC.
In addition to working for Messer & Associates, Katie is currently pursuing her Master’s of Accountancy at Marshall University and plans to graduate in 2022. Prior to her current position, she worked as a Tax Intern at Brown Edwards & Company and an Accounting Intern at Enterprise Holdings Corporate Office.In her spare time, Katie loves to dance. She volunteered as a dance instructor at St. Albans Studio of Dance, LLC for 4 years. She also started the University of Charleston Golden Eagles Dance Team in 2018 and choreographed for St. Albans High School Iconic dance team in 2018 and 2019. Katie was previously the Assistant Coach for the McKinley Middle School Dance Team and is now the Assistant Coach for the Hayes Middle School Dance Team. She has performed in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade eight times!
When asked how KCS prepared her for graduation, Katie said “Kanawha County Schools has prepared me for life after graduation by providing me with real-world scenarios. I was treated like an independent adult and was taught how to take responsibility for my coursework, which assisted significantly when I got to college.”
Katie also had some advice to share with current students, “Enjoy it. School goes by so quickly. Enjoy every second of it and stay motivated!”