Cathy Flora (she/her) '05 and MPA '19 is a double Greener grad and the Associate Director for Financial Aid, which includes being the primary Student Employment Officer at Evergreen. Cathy shares how her experience first led her to Evergreen and how she draws from her own experiences and trials with employment to support students wherever they may go and whatever they may do.
Cathy is a Greener through and through, sharing "I knew I wasn't going to fit into the traditional college structure and wanted to try something else." After proving herself right during her first year of college, Cathy transferred to Evergreen and studied art and photography, graduating with her bachelors degree in 2005.
From her first days in Olympia to her current role, Cathy says every experience has shaped her and provided her with new skills and perspectives to take with her in her life and now her work with Evergreen students. "These experiences have helped me understand how to talk about transferrable skills and how valuable communicating transferrable skills are."
In Cathy's current roll she wears a lot of hats, it turns out Student Employment isn't simple. Cathy works closely with staff and campus partners to manage work study, with community partners to share local jobs with students, she acts as an advocate for student employees to make sure they know their rights, advises staff supervisors on writing job descriptions and interviewing students, and helps students prepare for job interviews — just to name a few of her responsibilities.
"I really like helping a student find a connection to a job that is going to be mutually beneficial." Cathy doesn't just want students to find jobs, she wants them to find jobs that will help them learn the skills they are looking for and pair them with employers who are looking to partner with students to meet their goals.
"Every single job I have ever had has given me the opportunity to think about workers in that industry, thinking about how I ended up in that position. Every single job was an opportunity to learn something or lots of somethings."
While still a student at Evergreen, Cathy worked in downtown Olympia at Don's Camera. After graduation she stayed in Washington and worked at a bicycle touring company, a photographer for a dog kennel, a wedding photographer, a roller derby jammer known as Pippi Knockinstockins, and later as a health benefit administrator which led her back to Evergreen to pursue her Master in Public Administration. After returning to Evergreen for her MPA, Cathy began working at Evergreen and eventually made her way to her current role supporting Student Employment.
When Cathy isn't supporting students at Evergreen, she is most likely working on her hobby farm, Power House Ranch. "I always wanted animals growing up and bought the farm a few years ago with my husband". Cathy and her husband had their first litter of piglets last year and also raise chickens and bees on the farm as well as sell their produce, eggs, and honey at the Tumwater Farmers Market. Cathy's goal is to rebuild the farm into a food forest and prioritizes planting things that will be sustainable without disrupting the power lines over her property. The land was cleared in the 70s to install high-tension power lines in Olympia, Cathy briefly considered calling the farm "Electric Vegetables" when she discovered that living under power lines means the grass can become charged and can (lightly) electrocute you if your legs and feet aren't covered.
While Cathy has done a lot of interesting jobs in her life, she wanted to honor her mentor, Scott Elliot. Scott was her mentor when she came to Evergreen and devoted himself to eliminating barriers to student success. "He made sure to bring folks in and teach them to carry that on" and Cathy is proud to be doing that work now herself.
