{"id":7123,"date":"2026-05-13T11:25:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T15:25:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/?page_id=7123"},"modified":"2026-05-13T11:25:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T15:25:05","slug":"delivering-the-american-dream","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/winter-2022\/features\/delivering-the-american-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"Delivering the American Dream"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
The ADS Class of 2021 celebrates at the school\u2019s first graduation ceremony. Photo courtesy of The American Dream School<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Rhea Hirshman<\/em><\/p>\n

On a warm Saturday in late June 2021, gathered on the grounds of the Bronx Zoo, 64 graduates of The American Dream School (ADS) received their high school diplomas. Resplendent in their white gowns and gold sashes, the students were cheered in English and Spanish by their families and friends, by their teachers and school staff, and, perhaps most of all, by ADS\u2019s founder and head of school, Melissa Meza Melkonian \u201903, whose own journey as the child of immigrant parents was mirrored in theirs.<\/p>\n

Melkonian was born and raised near the Texas-Mexico border in a small town outside El Paso. \u201cMy parents, Natividad and Edgar Meza, emigrated from Mexico in search of the American dream for their children,\u201d she says.\u00a0\u201cTo them\u2014they had gone only through sixth grade\u2014the American dream meant access to the best education possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Active in high school in everything from softball to student government to the Spanish honor society, Melkonian figured she would attend college in Texas, which allows high school graduates with grades in the top 10th percentile to attend any public university in the state.<\/p>\n

Then, walking past the guidance office one day, she saw the pamphlet: Trinity College, with all four New England seasons displayed in full color. \u201cI remember thinking, \u2018What is this place?\u2019 \u201d she says. She visited the campus through a program geared to first-generation college students, completed her application, and was accepted.<\/p>\n

Melkonian was thrilled. Her mother, concerned about distance and unfamiliarity, was less enthusiastic and urged her to attend school closer to home. \u201cBut I was head over heels in love with the college,\u201d Melkonian says. Eventually, her mother accepted the idea of her daughter\u2019s striking out for faraway Connecticut.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Melissa Meza Melkonian \u201903, founder and head of school of The American Dream School in the Bronx. Photo by Michael Kamber<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her first months at Trinity were not easy. She wasn\u2019t sure where she fit. A star student whose good grades in advanced courses had come easily, Melkonian found herself struggling academically, socially, and emotionally. At midterm, she called her mother to say she wanted to come home. \u201cNo,\u201d her mother told her. \u201cYou will stay there and figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melkonian turned to Clyde McKee, the professor teaching her \u201cAmerican National Government\u201d class. Between his support and becoming involved in other activities\u2014she started practicing with the softball team and working in the Admissions Office\u2014Melkonian found her footing and her people. \u201cI had never been down so low,\u201d she says, \u201cbut everyone I opened up to helped to lift me. It was eye-opening to be supported like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

McKee, who passed away in 2011, remained a mentor throughout Melkonian\u2019s Trinity career and beyond. She keeps in touch with this Trinity family\u2014five of the six McKee siblings are Trinity alums\u2014corresponding regularly with McKee\u2019s widow, Mary. The family has supported Melkonian\u2019s work with donations to ADS, while son Clyde has shared his expertise in commercial insurance and daughter Deanne \u201981 is a resource in matters related to fundraising and philanthropy. \u201cMy dad dedicated his life to those he believed had the drive, skills, courage, and persistence to make a difference in the world,\u201d says the younger Clyde McKee. \u201cWhen he found someone like Melissa, he did whatever he could to support and encourage them.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a student trip sophomore year to Washington, D.C., with the McKees, Melkonian was introduced to a member of Congress and had a private tour of the Capitol. \u201cI love history and politics,\u201d she says. \u201cI was starstruck and wanted more.\u201d For her junior year, she was accepted to the Bard College International Honors Program, a yearlong study of globalization focusing on England, Tanzania, India, the Philippines, and Mexico.<\/p>\n

That experience changed her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was traveling with 30 other Americans in a world that was not loving Americans so much,\u201d she says. \u201cI learned about myself, about my place in the world as an American and a Mexican-American. We encountered so much injustice that never makes the news. I came home angry and with a fire in my belly to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n

She considered a teaching gig with the Peace Corps. But her mother said, \u201cTeach here. There are so many places in the U.S. that need good teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Melkonian stands outside the school she founded. Photo by Michael Kamber<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After graduating with a double major in political science and public policy, Melkonian entered the New York City Teaching Fellows program, moved to the Bronx, and worked toward her master\u2019s degree in special education and bilingual education. Her teaching placement was a trial by fire: fresh out of college, in a mixed-grade and mixed-needs special education classroom. Something was wrong, she thought. Why were fifth through eighth graders in the same classroom? Because they were immigrants? Because they spoke Spanish as a first language and had reading disabilities?<\/p>\n

After three years, Melkonian moved to a charter school in the Bronx while pursuing a second master\u2019s degree in education leadership at Columbia University\u2019s Teachers College, for which one of the requirements was designing a new school. \u201cThe school I designed then looks nothing like the school I run now, but the exercise was great practice,\u201d she says. When she read a 2011 New York Times<\/em> article detailing the dire dropout statistics for first-generation students in the South Bronx\u2014a heavily Mexican-American area\u2014the vision for The American Dream School was born. \u201cI was convinced,\u201d she says, \u201cthat these students were fully capable of being successful with the right support for them and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her 2013 application to the state Department of Education was accepted on the first try. Between soliciting the neighborhood parents to enroll their children and having to find the school\u2019s initial location\u2014\u201can approval of your charter application does not come with a building,\u201d she notes\u2014she was able to open in the fall of 2014 with a class of sixth graders.<\/p>\n

Now, ADS enrolls about 600 students in 6th through 12th grades. It is a totally bilingual learning environment, with a full complement of extracurricular activities and a mission of fostering leadership qualities and academic excellence in both English and Spanish. Against heavy odds, including the impact of COVID-19 on a highly vulnerable community, the school has survived and thrived. This first graduating class had a high school graduation rate of 98 percent\u2014significantly above the borough\u2019s average\u2014with 95 percent of those graduates heading to college.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Melissa Melkonian \u201903 welcomes middle school students on the first day of school in 2016. Before the pandemic, Melkonian\u2014accompanied by music\u2014greeted students this way every day. Photo courtesy of The American Dream School<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What does not show in those statistics is the support the school gives to its families, from a food pantry to translation services to assistance with legal matters. \u201cWe offer these services not to replace other nonprofit organizations,\u201d Melkonian says, \u201cbut as an extension of who we are as a family and a community. Our students can\u2019t learn if their most basic needs are not met; we offer a holistic approach to educating our students, our families.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Melkonian\u2019s own mother visited the school about five years ago, she commented on how at home she felt in the bilingual environment. \u201cI wish it had been like this when you were in school,\u201d she told her daughter. \u201cKnowing my mother\u2019s experience with my schools is the reason behind how we operate,\u201d Melkonian says. \u201cWe will dignify our parents, give them a voice, and involve them in their children\u2019s education.\u201d<\/p>\n

None of the school\u2019s success and resiliency would be possible, Melkonian emphasizes, without the full-hearted support of faculty and staff who work with students at all hours of the day and night and students who readily give up their Saturdays to move boxes or to help distribute food. She would love to see some of those students at Trinity; a handful likely will apply for next year. \u201cI got to Trinity by accident,\u201d she says, \u201cand the experience changed my life. And I think that Trinity needs my kids.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rhea Hirshman On a warm Saturday in late June 2021, gathered on the grounds of the Bronx Zoo, 64 graduates of The American Dream School (ADS) received their high school diplomas. 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