Host Parent and AHS Teacher Receives Prestigious Award

An ABC host parent and Andover High teacher extraordinaire, Melanie Cutler is one of 7 education professionals to receive a Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Educators (PIAEE) award. 

The PIAEE award, from the U.S Environmental Protection Agency and the White House Council on Environmental Quality, recognizes innovative educators who bring environmental education into their classrooms through hands-on, experiential approaches. 

Even before serving as a host parent, Cutler has always enjoyed having ABC students in her classes.  That’s because ABC scholars “come from different parts of the country and have unique backgrounds,” she says. “They bring valuable perspectives to the issues we talk about in class.  For example, students who live in Andover might not think about air pollution in their daily lives, but ABC students who come from Los Angeles or New York City might have a different perspective.  I love having students from all different backgrounds because environmental issues affect everyone, but they may not affect everyone equally and it's important for all students to understand that.”

Along with raising issues of environmental justice, local students have learned about and improved local projects promoting recycling and composting as well as other resource disposal issues, and studied renewable energy sources for Andover High.

She, her husband, Mark, and their two children, hosted Déanna, an ABC student who graduated from Andover High. Déanna is now a junior at Boston University, with a focus on international studies and has travelled to China, Singapore, and Geneva.  Of course, now she's spending the rest of her semester taking online courses at her home in Philadelphia. 

Congratulations to Melanie on this terrific recognition!