Catie McCarthy began Irish dancing with the Pittsburgh Irish Reelers when she was five years old.  At age ten, she decided that she wanted to begin dancing competitively and began taking lessons with the Bell School. Three years later she qualified and competed at her first Mid-American Oireachtas. 

 

Catie began assisstant teaching with Bell in high school and continued teaching and competing throughout most of college. In 2009, as a sophomore at the University of Pittsburgh, she placed 7th in the region at the Oireachtas and qualified for her first World Championship, which was held in Glasgow, Scotland in 2010.  She qualified for Worlds again in 2011 as a junior and traveled to Dublin, Ireland in 2012 for the competition. After this Catie decided to end her competitive Irish Dancing career and focus on school. She graduated from Pitt’s Business School in 2012 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and completed her Master’s in Accounting in 2013 at the Katz Graduate School of Business.

 

After grad school, Catie worked as an auditor at a public accounting firm and passed the CPA exam in 2014.  She now works as an accountant in Wexford and is glad to be close to the studio. Catie took and passed the TCRG exam in January 2018 and is thrilled that she is able to teach with Bell again and keep Irish dancing as a prominent part of her life.