As Alumni Weekend 2013 approaches, we’re catching up with this year’s reunion volunteers. Meet Catherine Pitcher, an entrepreneur, former teacher and much more! Find out what Pitcher’s been up to the last few years, and why she’s excited for her upcoming five year GW reunion:
Catherine Pitcher, CCAS BA ’08, has always kept herself busy. After completing a double major in economics and French literature at GW, she went on to join Teach For America after graduation.
As a Corps Member she taught Special Education in grades K-5 at George E. Harris Elementary School in Las Vegas, Nevada. While in Nevada, she also earned a Masters in Special Education at the University of Nevada- Las Vegas.
After completing her commitment to Teach For America, she went on to join the Teach For America Institute Staff in Los Angeles, training new Corps Members to be successful leaders in the their classrooms.
When Pitcher finished her role with Teach For America, she moved back to Washington, DC to pursue another dream–interior design. She worked at a high-end interior design firm in DC for a year before launching her own design business.
“It was very rocky at first,” Pitcher says, of opening her own business. “But I knew it was what I wanted to do, and I wasn’t going to let anything stand in my way.”
Now, in addition to the interior design business, Pitcher is also working on a film, set to be released later this year, called “LA Woman Rising.”
Although she is no longer a teacher, her commitment to education reform has hardly waned. Catherine tutors twice a week a charter school in the DC region and is a mentor to two Teach For America Corps Members that teach elementary special education.
Pitcher has many favorite memories from her time at GW — particularly from her senior year. “My fondest memory of GW is tied between finally turning in my thesis in economics and completing the comprehensive exam in french literature at the end of senior year,” she recalls. “I had spent all year preparing for the french exam and had spent countless frustrating nights at Gelman working on the thesis. I can still remember the feeling of relief, and of pride when I had completed those projects.”
Pitcher looks forward to seeing how her classmates have grown and changed over the last five years: “It will be great to have everyone back on campus for a weekend!”
