Highland Park Grad Named Rhodes Scholar

Highland Park High School’s top honorees in 2008 were (from left) Blanket Award winner Marilyn Mootz, co-salutatorian Melissa McCoy, Blanket Award winner Austin Shires, valedictorian Kaydee Sloan, and co-salutatorian Shelley Foran. (File photo: Chelcey Adami)
Highland Park High School’s top honorees in 2008 were (from left) Blanket Award winner Marilyn Mootz, co-salutatorian Melissa McCoy, Blanket Award winner Austin Shires, valedictorian Kaydee Sloan, and co-salutatorian Shelley Foran. (File photo: Chelcey Adami)

Melissa McCoy was one of two salutatorians for Highland Park High School’s Class of 2008. But now she has something much more impressive on her résumé. Over the weekend, McCoy was named a Rhodes Scholar. Here’s the profile released to media:

Melissa L. McCoy, Dallas, graduated summa cum laude from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2012 with a major in chemical engineering. She then studied entrepreneurship and technology at Singularity University at NASA Ames Research Park in California. At Georgia Tech she founded an organization focused on social entrepreneurial technology and co-founded an organization to solve the problem of post-disaster water scarcity, which was piloted in partnership with the Red Cross in a Chilean town decimated by earthquake. Melissa was also co-founder and COO of another tech company for which she co-invented and patented a digital manufacturing authentication technique. She intends to do the M.Sc. by research in environmental chemical engineering at Oxford.

McCoy and the 31 other American winners will enroll at Oxford University in October 2014, as will a number of international Rhodes Scholars.

3 thoughts on “Highland Park Grad Named Rhodes Scholar

  • November 25, 2013 at 9:12 am
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    What a fantastic honor.

    Reply
  • November 26, 2013 at 9:52 am
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    Way to go Melissa, amazing achievement!

    Reply
  • November 27, 2018 at 3:58 pm
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    I always knew Melissa was going to do great things.

    Reply

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