Meet Judge Melanie Kendrick. Melanie graduated from Central Catholic in 2004. She is the daughter of Frank and Mieke Kendrick and the sister of Kristof ‘03 and Emiel ‘08.
After high school Melanie attended the University of Notre Dame on a full scholarship from the Lilly Foundation. She loved her time as a Domer and is still an avid Irish fan.
After graduating from Notre Dame in 2008, Melanie attended the prestigious Wake Forest University Law School. After graduating, Melanie went to work in Indianapolis in the Marion County Public Defender Agency, where she represented juveniles accused of crimes.
In 2014, she left the Juvenile Division to go to the Adult Mental Health Division, where she was the original lead attorney in the Marion County Behavioral Health Court. She represented those with serious mental diagnoses in civil commitment hearings. In 2017, she became the Title IX Coordinator at University of Southern Indiana. While there, she oversaw all issues related to Title IX including campus sexual assault, domestic violence, and gender equality.
In 2018, she was appointed as a Magistrate in Marion County’s Probate Court in Indianapolis where she was a judicial officer overseeing wills, estates, trusts, adult guardianships, adoptions, and civil commitments. This past summer, Governor Eric Holcomb appointed Melanie Kendrick as the Presiding Judge of the new Marion County Family Court. In this role, she hears cases involving paternity, child support, child custody, divorces, children in need of services, and juvenile delinquency. She loves being able to give back to the community and state that has given her so much.
How did your education at LCSS prepare you for college and your career?
My time at CC really set me up to succeed at Notre Dame, Wake Forest, and quite honestly, my life in general. My desire to make a career out of helping others derived from the lessons and values I was taught at CC, which can be summed up with the age old phrase "To those whom much is given, much is expected." I was beyond fortunate to have attended CC and be surrounded by good, genuine people who truly want to help others- and this outlook was instilled in me at a crucial formative point in my life, adolescence, and I can thank CC for that.
What did you like most about your experience at LCSS?
As an adult, my favorite thing about my time in CC was the genuine friendships I made- I still talk to SO many of my classmates on a weekly basis, and we graduated *gasp* almost 20 years ago. While I was a student, my absolute favorite thing was Battle of the Classes, and I loved going to St Boniface/Lawrence/Mary's for All School Mass because we got to interact with the cute little future Knights (at the time I wanted to be an elementary school teacher, which is why I loved this!)
Describe one of your favorite memories of LCSS.
One thing that sticks out to me is the two times my brother, Kristof, who graduated in 2003, won state in basketball. The first was when I was in 8th grade, and the second was my junior year, his senior year. I first came to CC in 8th grade, so watching that team win sectionals, regionals, semi state and then state- and seeing the way the Central Catholic family truly gravitated, supported, and came out for that team really showed me that I was in a special place where people take care of and root for each other. Another favorite memory was being voted Class President so I was able to speak at graduation, and winning basketball Homecoming Queen my senior year. While that may seem trivial all these years later, as someone who transferred into CC right before high school when everyone else had been together since kindergarten, this meant a lot to me to show that I was truly seen as part of the CC family.
Anything else you would like to mention?
I'm grateful to have been chosen for an alumni spotlight, so thank you to whoever nominated me! As a Judge in a Family/Juvenile court, you see a lot of sad, dark, and depressing things. Quite often I find myself thinking about how different these kids' lives would be if they had the people around them that I had around me growing up, and a big part of that was the CC community.
To nominate a Central Catholic alumni for the next Alumni Corner, please fill out the form HERE.