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Exit Interview: Catherine Giles, News and Blog Editor and Sustainability Writer

Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Mara Flanagan
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Chatham chapter.
We’re celebrating the HC Chatham Class of 2015 with Exit Interviews!
 
Catherine Giles is Chatham spirit on two feet. She joined our HC chapter as the Sustainability Blogger, researching and reporting on trends in environmental innovation while sharing strategies to help students live with nature in mind. In fall 2014, she became our News and Blog Editor for a full academic year. A smart and gentle editor, she gave the kind of targeted but genuinely well-intentioned feedback any writer would be glad to get. Her kindness on the Her Campus team was just one small indicator of the force for good she was on campus. Now, as a candidate for a master’s degree in the School of Sustainability, she’s going to continue evangelizing for the Earth and making Chatham better place. 
 
 
Why did you choose to join the Her Campus Chatham team? 
I saw it as an opportunity to build my resume and use what skills I already had to help my friend, who was starting the chapter on campus. 
 
As the Sustainability Blogger, you’ve researched critical environmental issues and empowered the HC Chatham community to save the world. What advice do you have for members of the Class of 2015 on living Chatham’s sustainable mission after graduation?
It doesn’t matter how much you participate, it just matters that you participate period. Even if you only recycle one bottle per week, that’s seven more bottles than you would have the week before. Start small, and if you want to expand, there are tons of resources you can look into! Check out local co-ops, make a stance on vegetarianism (or not vegetarianism), but mainly, just get involved! 
 
You’ve served as the News and Blog Editor for the ’14/’15 academic year. What do you enjoy most about working with HC Chatham writers?
I loved listening to the different opinions of all of our writers! I was also pleasantly surprised by the content as well as the character of each of the articles as well. I had no idea of the potential of some of our writers, and I was very pleasantly surprised! 
 
As the undergraduate college goes coed, what are your hopes for the future of HC Chatham?
Since I’ve been involved with this organization since its creation, my hope is that HC Chatham will continue to maintain its Pink Chapter Level at the very least, and at the most, I hope to see a few men writing for HC Chatham—maybe we could have a “Feminists” section or a “Guys Talk” section! 
 
What did you like most about your time at Chatham?
I loved the people, and it’s them that I will miss most after I leave. I used to believe that it was a bunch of bologna or that it was just to make something sound better when people talked about “sisterhood bonds,” but I cannot even describe to you what it means to have gone to Chatham together. We underwent the same experiences year after year, lived together, cried together, but we all bonded. I love my Chatham Sisters.
By the same token, I will welcome my Chatham Brothers with open arms.
 
What advice you have for the Class of 2019?
Sleep is always optional. Studying is kind of like exercise—the first 10-15 minutes just absolutely suck and you don’t want to do it and you’d rather go home and you’re tired and sore and hungry, but you just need to push through. Dig deep, and study hard. Remember: you are here to get an education, not a degree as a professional Netflix Watcher. 
 
What do you love most about Chatham women?
Chatham women are (typically) very open-minded, or at least willing to engage in tough conversations. Additionally, Chatham women never back down from a challenge, and will always, always, ALWAYS exceed your expectations. 
 
By the time of your 50th Reunion, where do you hope you’ll be in life?
I’d really like to have my own bee farm by that time, running a honey business. 
 
Is there anything else you’d like to say to your Chatham family?
Call me, beep me, if you wanna reach me! But don’t send me a Facebook message because I don’t have Messenger on my phone. 
 
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  Mara Flanagan is entering her seventh semester as a Chapter Advisor. After founding the Chatham University Her Campus chapter in November 2011, she served as Campus Correspondent until graduation in 2015. Mara works as a freelance social media consultant in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She interned in incident command software publicity at ADASHI Systems, gamification at Evive Station, iQ Kids Radio in WQED’s Education Department, PR at Markowitz Communications, writing at WQED-FM, and marketing and product development at Bossa Nova Robotics. She loves jazz, filmmaking and circus arts.