Eureka Union
School District

Melissa lives in Granite Bay with her husband, Bill, and two children.  Sheearned her Ph.D. in Education at UCLA, holds a M.A. in Education from UCLA and a B.A. in Psychology and Spanish from Georgetown University. As a scholar and independent contractor, she has extensive experience with research, evaluation, facilitation, strategic planning, and project management.  Her primary clients have included the California Department of Education, the California After School Network, and County Offices of Education throughout California (Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego). She has conducted numerous external evaluations for school districts statewide and for informal science learning institutions such as the Tech Museum of Innovation and the RH Fleet Science Center. For the past six years, her work has focused on building Communities of Practice across California in order to support increased quality and quantity of STEM learning opportunities in expanded learning programs. She has research experience in after school and instructional day learning environments particularly as it relates to media literacy, relationship building, student engagement, and youth development. Her publications include academic articles and technical reports/resource guides for practitioners. She has also taught undergraduate courses in education.

Mike grew up in Granite Bay, attending Greenhills, Eureka, and Cavitt Junior High School. He was in the first class at GBHS in 1999. He earned a BS in Biological Sciences from Cal Poly, during which time he performed research in marine and cellular biology and secured a research assistantship in Antarctica. He then earned a M.S. in marine biology from University of Oregon, researching deep-sea corals. He later earned a Ph.D. in Integrative Biology from UC Berkeley where he did research on small mammals of California.

 

Mike is now a professor at American River College in the Biological Sciences Department where he teaches non-majors biology, zoology, and evolution for biology majors. He also helps with the natural history collections there.

Mike and his wife, Christy are raising their two children, Lena and William. They are active in the community and help out in classrooms and with girl scout activities.

 

Mike is passionate about STEM education and brings an equity-minded focus to the Board.

Ms. Nash began her career as a newspaper reporter after graduating from UC Davis with a degree in history. She spent several years working for daily newspapers in Northern California. Ms. Nash went back to school, attending law school at the McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento where she graduated with Great Distinct and was admitted to the Order of the Coif. 

 

Ms. Nash worked as a lobbyist and Legal Counsel with the California Newspaper Publishers Association for five years and was an Adjunct Professor of Law at McGeorge School of Law for 14 years, teaching Mass Media Law and Employment Law. 

Ms. Nash’s career has included serving as Corporate Counsel to McClatchy Publishing and General Counsel and Assistant to the Publisher to News & Review Publishing. 

After having four children in 20 months (including a set of triplets), Ms. Nash decided to stay closer to home, serving as General Counsel to Professional Educational Services, LP. She then moved to private practice in Roseville where her practice focused on representing businesses in employment, contract and tax matters. 

Ms. Nash retired from the full-time practice of law in 2018 to focus on her true passion, public education. Ms. Nash served for over 10 years as a member of the Board of Directors of the Eureka Schools Foundation (ESF), including a stint as president. ESF raises funds for the Eureka Union School District. In 2012, Ms. Nash was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Eureka Union School District. In 2013, she was elected to the Delegate Assembly of the California School Boards Association. She currently served on both boards. With both of those positions, Ms. Nash focuses her time on improving public education at both the local and statewide level. She is a passionate advocate for public education, including ensuring adequate funding and serving the needs of all students in the state. 

Ms. Nash's other focuses involve serving young people. In 2010, Ms. Nash co-founded of the Roseville Theater Arts Association, a non-profit community theater whose focus is on children aged 4 through 19. She continues to serve on their Board of Directors. Ms. Nash lives in Granite Bay, California with her husband of 25 years and three of her children, triplet daughters in their senior year of high school. Her oldest daughter is a sophomore at San Diego State University. In her free time, Ms. Nash enjoys travel – especially to Napa and other winegrowing regions of the nation and world -- reading and watching murder mysteries and is a collector of fine wine. 

Renee C. Nash  

Andy resides in Granite Bay with his wife Rachel and their two children, Eddie and Jack. Prior to being elected to the Eureka School Board in 2010, Andy joined the United States Marine Corps at the age of 17 and spent four years serving our country as an infantryman. Upon earning an Honorable Discharge, he worked his way through college on the GI Bill, obtaining both a bachelor’s and master’s degree. He then created and implemented a program funded by the Workforce Investment Act to provide homeless veterans living wage jobs. Andy also spent time as an educator, teaching high school students the basics of our Government and Economic system. He has made his mark in the world of philanthropy, having raised over 50 million dollars to support causes both locally and across the globe. Currently, he is the CEO of a Sacramento based business doing business throughout the west. Andy is focused on preserving our low class sizes, preparing our students to compete in a global economy, fully utilizing our available financial resources, and respecting the community by being fiscally prudent and maintaining the highest level of transparency.