“Innovative,” “rigorous” and “filled with people who are curious about learning” are some of the ways Christian Melgar ‘23 described Bucknell University. 

From the class of 2023 Melgar was selected to receive The Bucknellian’s Outstanding Senior Award. Melgar will be graduating as an English — Literary Studies and Secondary Education double major with a minor in Public Policy. 

Spending the past semester in a Lewisburg High School classroom as a student teacher he spoke about the many lessons he has learned. Not only did it allow him to grow as a person but he explained the growth he was able to have as a professional teaching in the workplace. He also noted all the connections he was able to make with the high school students.

“Student teaching has taught me so much about what it means to be a teacher and so many things I would not have gotten sitting in a college classroom. You start to realize this is why you’re doing what you’re doing” Melgar said. 

During his time here Melgar has been involved in a multitude of organizations and held many leadership positions within them. For all four years at Bucknell he was a part of Bucknell Student Government as a class senator, the Office of Admissions as a tour guide, and Latin Alliance for Community and Opportunity for Students.

Within Residential Education Melgar served two years as a Residential Advisor and as a senior this year was a Lead Residential Advisor. As a POSSE Scholar Melgar explained the positive impact the organization had on him as it shaped him to who he was and helped choose the spaces he wanted to navigate at Bucknell. 

Among all of involvements Melgar spoke about his role for the past two years as the Undergraduate Executive Intern for the Office of the Dean of Arts & Sciences. With the help of the Dean’s Student Advisory Council that Melgar heads he was able to develop and host the first ever Arts and Sciences Week. He explained that after the positive feedback they received from the first year running it in 2022 they were excited to be able to host it again this year.

Speaking of all of these organizations Melgar has been a part of, he said that he felt they all offered him an even exchange with many benefits as a result of the work he would put in.

Reflecting on the past four years Melgar shared that the most important lesson he has learned has been, “your credentials are just as important as your personality. Who you are as a person matters just as much if not more than what’s on your resume.”

As a senior he shared that his favorite memory was still from first year orientation when he had the chance to sit in Dean Amy Badal’s “life chair” in the Weis Center. 

Speaking on advice for current and future students he encourages to, “Get involved in as much as possible and take advantage of everything Bucknell has to offer. Don’t get hung up on fitting in or what others think of you.”

Following graduation Melgar will be moving to Cambridge, Mass., to continuing his education at Harvard University. He will be attending the Harvard Graduate School of Education and pursuing a Master’s in Education.