Catelee Crow ’24: Through a fellowship, a major and a Senior Study, ‘Crow’ discovers the passion that fuels her future
Feb. 16, 2024
Growing up, Maryville College senior Catelee “Crow” Crow ’24’s outdoor experiences were limited to the confines of the backyard of her childhood home in Clinton, Tennessee.
As a teen, however, she ventured beyond the family’s property line, eventually discovering Clear Creek within the Norris Watershed, a winding waterway only 10 minutes from home that became the port from which she sailed into a new and inspirational way of life that’s become both a passion and a potential career through her MC education.
“I started to realize how diverse nature was. In high school, I went backpacking for the first time with my dad, and I gained more of a desire to be outside,” said Crow.
While she had a personal interest in the outdoors, this didn’t quite solve the career issue. Like many prospective students, Crow had no clue what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. When her mom arranged for a tour of Maryville College, she discovered the world of Mountain Challenge, an award-winning outdoor team-building company (located on the MC campus since 1987) focused on providing high-quality, safe outdoor experiences that are “designed to change the world for the better, one person at a time.”
Through Jackie Eul ’18, alumna and part-time Mountain Challenge assistant director, Crow learned at a Meet Maryville event for prospective students that there was a scholarship program for those willing to put in time, work and dedication to outdoor efforts on campus.
That, she added, helped her see how it was possible to find a career at Maryville College that would incorporate her newly discovered love of nature and the outdoors. She pursued a Mountain Challenge Scholarship with all of the determination she could muster, she said.
“Everything in my entire life, I threw into that one dream of getting this scholarship. I don’t think they even realized how important it was to me,” Crow said.
When the scholarship finally arrived, she never looked back.
“I didn’t even know my core values yet or what I cared about, and I had found it,” Crow said.
An education built around a passion
And she’s taken full advantage of the opportunities that accompanied the financial aid. During her time on the MC campus, Crow dedicated herself to sustainable living through multiple jobs and internships, reducing waste and informing local youth, and building on those experiences as an Outdoor Studies and Tourism major.
The Outdoor Studies and Tourism program of study provides numerous opportunities for students to participate in sustainability initiatives across campus, mostly through the Mountain Challenge Scholarship. It’s one of many First-Year Scholarships “awarded to one student leader interested in developing leadership skills while taking part in one of the South’s premier outdoor adventure programs,” created by Bruce Guillaume ’76 in 1987.
Crow works as an outdoor facilitator with other Mountain Challenge student workers and as a scholar, where she is “more involved in decisions and overall management of Mountain Challenge,” she said. “It basically means that I’m the go-to guy for anything needed. I have the opportunity to give people outdoor experiences that help them grow as a person or as a team.”
In the program, she found passion and personal truth within the organization’s values, and the scholarship, along with the work of the Outdoor Studies and Tourism major, has allowed her to flourish at Maryville College.
“I have no idea where I would be now without that push in the right direction by receiving the Mountain Challenge Scholarship,” Crow said. “It changed my entire life and set me on my current path.”
While Mountain Challenge has provided a weekly focus for Crow since her first year, other opportunities have allowed her to grow in her appreciation for and interest in working toward a career involving the outdoors.
Crow and three other interns at MC were chosen to work with the Environmental Protection Agency Grant given to MC in 2022. Adrienne Schwarte, professor of design, and Dr. Mark O’Gorman, professor of political science, organize events funded by the grant and data collection about them while the interns are assigned activity development, working with children at sustainability events, and assembling sustainability boxes for delivery to various schools across Alcoa and Maryville.
“It is important to me to work with individuals or groups and share how amazing the natural world can be. I want to show people the importance of sustainability and how human actions affect every living thing,” Crow said.
According to the internship application, the requirements are to “increase broader awareness and environmental literacy surrounding local environmental issues in Tennessee, increase teacher access to environmental topics and curriculum materials, and to increase the number of K-12 classrooms teaching environmental education and meeting the Tennessee Environmental Literacy Plan.”
“This internship has allowed me to think about environmental education and education about sustainability in a new way, focusing on a younger, fourth-grade audience. Through teaching kids, I know that I am helping the future of sustainable individuals,” Crow said.
Steering College efforts toward sustainability
Crow also pursued a sustainability internship with Dr. Jay Clark, the College’s director of environmental and sustainability initiatives. Clark and Crow worked together to place recycling bins with informative signs all over campus, along with a full transition to a new recycling program.
“I help with whatever campus sustainability projects he is currently working on,” Crow said.
Crow has also learned how to manage the invasive plants in the Maryville College Woods; created a food waste program for discarded food from Pearson’s Dining Hall; helped with multiple Stuff Swaps through the Fit.Green.Happy.® on-campus nonprofit; continued with the recycling program upkeep; and much more.
Ironically, there was no formal interview for this position. Clark had been considering a sustainability intern, and Crow popped into his office one day to pitch herself.
“He gave me the internship next week,” she said. “Through sustainability programming on campus, I know that I am making a difference towards a more sustainable future for Maryville College.”
As her senior year comes to a close, she’s finishing work on her Senior Study, titled “Awe: An Analysis and Photo Series of the Feeling of Awe and How Awe Can Promote Pro Sustainability Behaviors.” She explores the concept of “awe” in nature through the literary analysis of how humans process appreciation into pro-sustainability behaviors. A creative portion of the study includes Crow’s nature photography with an analysis of the reactions of awe and how the feeling opens eyes and hearts to protection and conservation efforts.
Through her internships and her Senior Study, Crow has paved the way for a unique career opportunity, as well as fostered more sustainable development on the MC campus. After graduation, she will explore various professional opportunities in outdoor work with a sustainable mindset.
“No matter what career I end up in, it will be outside, and I will always want to protect the outdoors,” Crow said.