Environmental Career Chats are informal networking opportunities for U-M students to connect with environmental professionals about their career journeys. During these hour-long sessions, PitE alumni share about their experiences working in various environmental fields and answer questions submitted by students. March’s virtual Environmental Career Chat is focused on Environmental Education with Catherine Tao.

Upon graduating with a degree from PitE and Earth & Environmental Science in 2015, Catherine moved out to a small dusty town called Bishop, CA, for a job as an AmeriCorp Education and Outreach Coordinator for a non-profit. However, if she were being honest with herself at that time, she would have admitted that she really chose the job for Bishop's outdoor recreation opportunities. Nestled in the rugged peaks of the Eastern Sierra, she bounced between jobs with CA Dept of Fish and Wildlife and other technician positions that supplemented her pursuit of semi-professional alpine climbing. After several domestic and international climbing expeditions from Washington, to Mexico, to Tibet, she moved to Oakland, CA, where she is now a high school science teacher, teaching a senior capstone class about environmental activism and community change as she works towards her Master's in Education at California State University, East Bay.