Alexa Rodheim-Cutler, English teacher at Elk Grove High School, dies at 29

When I was in school, we never had teachers that looked this beautiful!

Alexa Rodheim-Cutler taught far more than grammar and composition to her students in her English classes at Elk Grove High School.

During her two-year battle with breast cancer, through the ups and downs of countless rounds of chemotherapy, a bilateral mastectomy, the optimism of a positive prognosis and the devastating news six months later that cancer had returned, Rodheim-Cutler planned her treatment schedule to minimize the time she missed in her classroom.

Colleagues and former students say she taught them all lessons in compassion, commitment and courage.

"Throughout her battle with cancer, she was honest, straightforward and realistic, but always so hopeful," said Wendy Relich, Elk Grove's English and Fine Arts division head. "She was a source of strength and inspiration to all of us."

Rodheim-Cutler, 29, who was also the high school's girls water polo coach, died of cancer on March 11 at JourneyCare, a hospice facility in Barrington. She was a resident of Schaumburg.

During her short career, she was a recipient of the Illinois State Board of Education's "Those Who Excel" Award of Excellence in the category of Early Career Educator, and also a 2013 Top 20 Golden Apple finalist.

"However, she did not care for one moment about individual honors; all she cared about was changing the lives of kids," Paul Kelly, the principal of Elk Grove High School, wrote in a letter to parents and students. "Watching her work with kids was a true pleasure. She combined a warm heart with a no-nonsense approach that students simply could not resist."

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