Biography
Athlete
Melanie's love for alpine skiing started at a young age and has been growing ever since.
Although she is relatively new to racing, she is competing at international races.
She was thrilled to represent Canada at the 2010 Vancouver Paralympic Winter Games.
As a congenital leg amputee, she skis on one leg and uses two outriggers (similar to poles with ski tips on the bottom).
She will continue to train and improve her results at World Cup races.
She hopes to compete in the 2011 World Championships in Italy.
Scholar
Melanie is a university graduate with an honours co-op Bachelor of Computer Science degree from the University of Waterloo.
She has worked with a variety of programming languages on several platforms in both classroom and professional environments.
Melanie is currently working full time as a software quality assurance analyst.
Volunteer
Melanie is dedicated to community service. She was involved in various volunteer activities throughout university.
She was the Secretary, Treasurer, Rush Chair, and Webmaster of her sorority, Sigma Lambda Gamma.
She also served four consecutive years as Frosh Leader during Orientation Week at the University.
She volunteered with the War Amps CHAMP (Child Amputee) program for eight years.
Her other volunteer activities include the work for The Daily Bread Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, and Out of the Cold Program; a shelter for homeless Torontonians.
Ski Instructor
Melanie volunteered her time to teach skiing to disabled children with the Ontario Track 3 Ski Association.
Her passion for teaching skiing prompted her to become a certified instructor with the Canadian Ski Instructors' Alliance (CSIA).
She was the first adaptive skier to earn CSIA level 1 certification.