Katie Modic

Coordinator of Educational Initiatives, Communitopia

Katie Modic is the Coordinator of Educational Initiatives at Communitopia. Through her leadership and vision Communitopia has created and presented workshops on climate change to over 300 students from environmental justice communities throughout Allegheny County. Her work not only increases students’ scientific literacy surrounding climate change, it also motivates students to act. Recently Katie successfully led a group of 8th graders from Woodland Hills Junior High School to petition their school board to pass a Climate Action Resolution, which passed unanimously in July of 2019. Katie holds an undergraduate degree in Spanish and Anthropology as well as a Master of Science in Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2006 she kicked off her teaching career by joining Teach for America and taught middle school special education in the Rio Grande Valley of Southern Texas. In 2011 she moved to the Netherlands to work as the Director of Learning Support at the American International School of Rotterdam. Upon returning to the United States she worked as faculty in the Education Department at Central College before moving to Pittsburgh, her husband’s hometown, in 2017. When she’s not working to empower students, Katie is an outdoor endurance enthusiast. She has cycled across the United States, participates in multi-day running relays and subjects herself to the 26.2 mile challenge known as the Pittsburgh Marathon. She also currently serves as the volunteer Director of Mentoring for the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Pittsburgh and is a volunteer Outdoor Leader for the South Western PA branch of the Sierra Club.