Raised in a small community in east Knoxville, Melissa Priode is eager to move out of Tennessee into a city with a bit more excitement and life. She is a senior at the University of Tennessee where her major is Journalism and Electronic Media with a minor in Political Science.

Melissa is the President of The Volunteer Channel, the student run television channel at UT, where she writes, produces and anchors. She aspires to one day work for a non-profit organization in some capacity, maybe in media relations or marketing.

Outside of school, Melissa coaches a high school swim team and is an intern at the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. She is very excited about going on Alternative Spring Break with TeamVols! She likes to run, cook vegetarian dinners and listen to Jimmy Buffett.