Melanie Pappageorge
Melanie Pappageorge grew up in Connecticut and received a B.A. from the University of Vermont in 1990. Inspired by the beauty of the West, and her love for skiing she moved to Colorado in 1992. Ms. Pappageorge was accepted into University of Colorado's School of Education, and received her M.A. in Elementary Education in 1994. Her focus of study during this program was English as a Second Language. Melanie taught fifth grade in Westminster, Colorado for six years before teaching at Columbine. This is her seventh year at Columbine and she is part of the 4/5 looping team. When Melanie is not teaching, she loves to go hiking with her Chocolate Lab, Maddie. Also, she is learning how to surf and finds happiness listening to all kinds of music. Traveling and photography are two hobbies that top Melanie's list of fun things to do. Her family lives on Nantucket Island, so every summer she drives back to Massachusetts to spend time with them. Melanie's dad was a teacher, too,for 35 years, and he was her inspiration for becoming an educator.
Jen Hutman Biography
Jen Hutman grew up in a small town outside of Baltimore, Maryland. She began her undergraduate studies at Penn State University and completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts at CU- Boulder with an emphasis in Photography & Printmaking. After working for several years in film production, graphic design and website design, Jen went back to school to receive her teaching certification and to pursue a Master’s Degree in Educational Psychology.
Jen Hutman is excited to be teaching at Columbine for her second year. Before working for the Boulder Valley Public Schools, she taught fourth grade for two years in the Brighton 27j School District, and Pre-K / Kindergarten for three years at a private school in Boulder. She also had the opportunity to live and teach third grade in Tegucigalpa, Honduras for one year. In addition, she taught Multimedia Design at Front Range Community College.
In her spare time, Jen likes to be as active as possible. She enjoys doing yoga, snowboarding, road-biking, camping, and just about anything else that allows her to explore the outdoors. She spends most of her free time with her awesome son, Jaden, who is now in the fifth grade. Jen loves to play her guitar, sing and write music. She hopes to be a rock star in her next life!