2019 - Catherine Miske

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2019 Outstanding Citizen Catherine Miske


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Congratulations to the 2019 Outstanding Citizen Catherine Miske

The kind of people who get nominated for Columbia Heights’ Outstanding Citizen Award tend to have a healthy dose of humility. So when Catherine Miske received a call from Columbia Heights City Hall, she assumed she was in trouble.

“At first I thought, ‘why is the City calling me, is my yard not up to standard? Are there too many toys out front?’” Miske said. The City was actually calling to inform her she had been selected as the 2019 Outstanding Citizen winner.

Miske was nominated by Katherine Hosch and Cheri Fischer, who highlighted Miske’s work as a Cub Scout volunteer at Immaculate Conception Church and liturgy coordinator at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, where she works with Deaf and hard-of-hearing youth. She hosts Boy Scout programs out of her house, and regularly arranges to bring kids to area nursing homes to sing songs, play games, and do projects with the residents.

Miske moved to Columbia Heights in 1986 and raised three children here. She has been a volunteer for the Columbia Heights Public Schools reading and theater programs. She has also stepped in to help with youth programs at the Columbia Heights Public Library when the library was short-staffed.
 
“I think part of the responsibility of living in a community is to support it and try to give back as much as you can,” Miske said. 

Miske was selected from a group of nominees by Mayor Donna Schmitt and last year’s Outstanding Citizen winner Tanya Moore.