It’s a long way from Norway to Manitou Springs, but Cathrine “Cat” Olimb is glad to be here, working as director of technology for Manitou Springs School District 14.
Olimb, who was raised outside of Oslo, said, “It was an awesome place to grow up.”
In Norway, she enjoyed skiing, sailing, water skiing and all other outdoor activities imaginable. She graduated from Wang Business School in Oslo with a business/marketing degree, in addition to a graphic design degree.
After her daughter, Emilie, and son, Anders, were born, they moved to Tel Aviv, Israel. While there, a career in education fell into her lap when the director of the American Embassy School left in the middle of the school year. Olimb was offered the position, which she accepted.
While living in Israel, she was temporarily evacuated back to Norway because of the Gulf War, and her kids were able to attend Norwegian schools for six months.
After moving from Tel Aviv to The Hague, Netherlands, she transitioned to a position as technology coordinator at the American School of The Hague. While living in the Netherlands, she said, “I really missed skiing, but it’s really easy to just get in the car and drive to nearby resorts.”
Olimb took advantage of all the excellent European skiing. Even in Tel Aviv, she could use the indoor skiing areas — which are not the same as an actual mountain, but would suffice for the time being.
While living in Israel and the Netherlands, she often visited extended family and friends in Colorado Springs and knew that Colorado would be the next place she wanted to live. So, in 2005, her family moved to Colorado.
“I really, really loved Colorado. I love skiing. I love biking. And one of my favorite things to do is camp,” Olimb said; therefore, Colorado was a perfect fit.
A librarian at one of the Dutch schools she worked at had moved on to MSSD14, and she notified Olimb about the position in Manitou. She had planned to settle in and not take a job immediately after moving to Colorado, but decided to apply for the Manitou job her friend told her about. She came directly from the airport to the interview and was offered the position on the ride home.
Olimb loves working for Manitou schools and has helped streamline district operations. She was the main point of contact for implementing Apple’s iPad tablets into education. At the time, only two schools were doing this: Manitou and a school in Scotland.
“We were one of the first schools in the country to go to iPads, and it was really fun working with awesome people,” said Olimb.
She said it was an excellent experience to advance the education system with technology that few other schools had.
Currently, Olimb and the tech team are working on updating school district servers, continuing to protect students, staff and the district’s security by increasing their cybersecurity presence and aiding students and staff in their everyday technology needs.
“We work really closely with Homeland Security and (other government agencies) to have a really good program for our school district,” said Olimb.
In her spare time, she loves to ski, mountain bike, camp and explore new locations. Her family has the goal to ski at a new resort every year.
Growing up in Norway, Olimb’s mother always said, “There’s no bad weather, just bad clothes,” and she implements that mindset into her Colorado life.
Olimb plans on spending at least 10 years in her current position until she retires. She looks forward to advancing Manitou’s technology and continuing to help students, staff and administrators.
Go Mustangs!