Katie Byrnes

Katie Byrnes BA ’79

Katie grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico and chose to attend Lewis and Clark for the college’s elementary education major and the overseas program. While at Lewis and Clark she participated in the Turkey overseas program and received a BA in Elementary Education. Upon graduation she taught kindergarten at Boise Eliot, a Portland Public School magnet early childhood education school. Lewis & Clark prepared her well to become a teacher and she appreciated the hands-on, practical aspect of the curriculum, and the mentoring she received from her professors during the student teaching portion of her education. Katie has been a lifelong community volunteer. Her children attended Catlin Gabel School and she volunteered in various leadership roles at the school for 22 years! She is currently a kindergarten classroom volunteer at Kairos, a Portland Public charter school whose mission is to shrink the educational gap of under-served children and that elevates the voices of historically under-served children, their families and their communities. When her daughter Anna attended Lewis & Clark she was a member/chair of the Parent’s Council. She is currently a member of the Lewis & Clark Philanthropy Council.