Melissa Saholt is a junior Communication Studies and English double major, from Lakeville, Minnesota.

Melissa is a familiar face to many at Gustavus. You may have spotted her giving tours around campus, playing handbells in Chapel, or seen her bright smile from across the Courtyard Cafe.

Melissa loves the feel of the Gustavus campus, and the community here. These were two of the key reasons why Gustavus was her choice for college. She also loves that Gustavus has  allowed her to have so many unique experiences.

“I’ve had so many different opportunities wherever I go,” Melissa said.

Melissa is very dedicated to her studies and often has a lot going on, being a double major, but she also finds time to be involved in the Gustavus community, and multiple student organizations on-campus. She is part of Gustavus Greens, Handbells, is President of French Club, a Writing Center tutor, and is a Gustie Guide.

Melissa and her good friend and current roommate, Molly Johnston, met their freshman year.

“We kind of had the same friend group, but first started to get to know each other during J-term freshman year. We figured out we both liked the show Criminal Minds. We would watch that together, and would even Skype or call each other when we would watch it when we weren’t together,” Johnston said.

“I think people can learn from her enthusiasm, and not making preconceived notions..” — Kathy Lund Dean

Johnston loves having Melissa as her friend and roommate, and admires how hardworking, involved, and invested she is both in her studies and in her relationships on campus.

“She’s really good at keeping relationships going. She keeps in touch with so many people from our freshman year section in Co-Ed, and she has lunch with them,” Johnston said.

Johnston also loves how Melissa is always so positive and happy.

“She’s my go to person if I need to talk to someone. She’s such a good friend to everyone. When she sees someone she knows, she always says hi, and is super excited to see them,” Johnston said.

Melissa has also been know to check in with her professors to say hi and let them know what she has been up to.

One of the major lessons that Melissa has learned as a student here at Gustavus is that everything happens for a reason.

“I found that a lot of my freshmen year classes have gotten me interested in different opportunities that I wouldn’t have really thought about. For example, my FTS was Let’s Gamble, and that led me to take a J-Term in Las Vegas my sophomore year,” Melissa said.

Professor of Management in Economics and Management, Kathy Lund Dean first met Melissa during the course-related orientation meetings for her J-Term course, Entrepreneurs – Las Vegas last January.

Lund Dean was impressed with how Melissa took control of her learning and engaged herself in every opportunity during the time they were in Las Vegas.

“She always wanted to try something new. She was always very professional with all of our site visits and all of our executives. She was up for anything. It was great,” Lund Dean said.

Lund Dean sees Melissa as a great role model for Gustavus students in terms of being open to different paths, and taking opportunities as they are presented.

“I think people can learn from her enthusiasm, and not making preconceived notions. Sometimes I see Gustavus students be self-locked and have plans, nothing can deviate from these four-year plans. She’s not like that at all, and I think people can learn from that,” Lund Dean said.

Anyone who meets Melissa knows that she takes every opportunity that is presented to her, works hard to learn as much as she can in her majors, activities, and interactions, and is friendly to everyone she meets here at Gustavus.