Melissa Frey Hegarty went to school to be a history teacher, but after attending a transformative class about teaching economics, Melissa changed her focus and has never looked back. Since then, Melissa taught high school economics for 10 years, specializing in creative instruction that utilizes hands-on, active learning models. Prior to coming to GCEE, Melissa taught at Decatur High School, Southwest DeKalb, and Herron High School where she taught gifted, general ed, and special education. During her time at these schools, she introduced the Econ Challenge, Personal Finance Challenge, InvestWrite, and Stock Market Game to her students. Melissa became so passionate about teaching the Stock Market Game, that she is now GCEE’s Stock Market Game Coordinator!

As the Georgia Stock Market Game Coordinator, Melissa trains hundreds of educators each year on how to teach the Stock Market Game effectively in their classrooms. Melissa also handles all teacher questions, registration, billing, marketing and awarding of prizes in the game. Additionally, Melissa creates K-12 lessons and activities for GCEE on topics such as creditworthiness, Cuban economic systems, WWII, and more that utilize strategies such as digital storytelling, role-play, jigsaw, simulations, skits, and board games.

Melissa has an undergraduate degree in history and a master’s degree in social studies education from Georgia State University.

Melissa suffers from a chronic condition called the travel bug and frequently treks to destinations across the globe for treatment. Some of her most recent exploits include Thailand, Morocco, Japan, and Tanzania.