New Teacher Profile: Melanie Aldridge

Coach Melanie Aldridge in the Manning Center. (Kayla Wilson)

Melanie Aldridge, Prep’s newest girls’ basketball coach and kinesiology teacher,  is a Jackson native. Growing up, Melanie was a basketball player majored in kinesiology at Mississippi College because of her love for sports and her desire to work with athletes. She went on to receive a Master of Science in Sport Administration from Arkansas State University. She later taught and coached basketball in Canton.

Coach Aldridge loves to travel; one goal she wants to achieve is to travel throughout the world. She loves country music, trips with friends, and loves to walk and be around her dog Copper. 

Aldridge serves as an assistant coach for the varsity girls’ basketball team and is the junior high girls’ head coach, as well as helping with 7th and 8th girls’ teams. 

When she’s not coaching, Aldridge also is a kinesiology teacher. She says she loves excellence, academics, and athletics she has found at Prep. Coach Aldridge said with a smile, “I love it here so far, and says she doesn’t plan on leaving till God calls her somewhere else. Ms.Crumpler, Coach Noblin, and Ms.Eskrigge all helped Coach Aldridge get accustomed to Prep. 

Coach Aldridge said with excitement, “I am very excited about the 9th grade season; we have a good group.” In her kinesiology classroom, Aldridge wants her students to know how the body moves with exercise.