Since her graduation from Falk in 2011, alumna Olivia Perfetti has spent over a decade working to protect the environment and improve public health in Pittsburgh and beyond.

Through thoughtful research, campaign-building, and outreach, Olivia has—as her father Charles Perfetti wrote in a recent nomination for the Falk Laboratory School Wonder, Care, Act Alumni Award—shown impressive enthusiasm for learning and discovery and transformed care into action time and time again. 

Falk Influences 

Growing up at Falk, Olivia says, “Children were treated with respect and dignity, and everyone’s interests were really supported. There were a lot of opportunities to explore non-traditional disciplines,” an atmosphere that allowed Olivia and others to find their niche and become passionate about the issues and opportunities they encountered. 

Olivia especially remembers enjoying Falk’s trip to the McKeever Environmental Learning Center, an experience that solidified her interest in environmental science and laid a small but sure foundation for her later career. 

In addition to these formative moments, Falk was also a place for fun and quirkiness. “I got really advanced with recorder,” Olivia recalls with a laugh. “I even played with the band,” a virtually unheard-of opportunity for recorder players but one that Lee Ann Conover, who led the music department in the 2000s, embraced. As Olivia puts it, “everyone’s uniqueness was really celebrated.” 

The extensive arts and humanities curriculum at Falk is another thing that stands out for Olivia, with the influences of librarian Laurie Williams and art teachers Cheryl Capezzuti and Pamela (Krakowski) Armstrong immediately coming to mind. 

Working in the Community 

After Falk, Olivia attended Obama Academy for high school, then graduated from the University of Michigan with a BS in Environmental Sciences. Throughout her undergraduate years, Olivia’s free time was filled with impactful community engagement and campaign work, including visiting local high school classrooms to share renewable energy lessons, leading a campus climate change campaign, and volunteering for Groundcover News, a street newspaper that provides writing, editorial, and sales opportunities for people experiencing homelessness in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 

Upon graduation, Olivia applied to GreenCorps, a national training program for environmental organizing. After eight weeks of leadership and strategic campaign training, she was placed first at the University of Maine and later in Charleston, SC, where she partnered with Defenders of Wildlife to prevent drilling in the Arctic region and led a campaign to transition South Carolina’s public utility to 100% clean energy by 2050, respectively. In both instances, “I really experienced what it was like to build a campaign from the ground up,” Olivia says. “It was a formative learning experience.” 

Protecting Pittsburgh's Health and Environment 

When the COVID-19 pandemic cut Olivia’s time with GreenCorps short, she accepted a position as a Western PA Field Organizer for PennEnvironment, where she spent two years leading canvassing campaigns, training volunteers, managing student interns, and speaking and writing for local press outlets to promote clean air and water. 

In 2022, she returned to school to pursue an MS in Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University. As a Stephen M. Lauble Fellow, she participated in three internships during her studies, working to connect residents with city and state resources and improve public transit in the region.

Today, Olivia is a Municipal Engagement Manager for the Allegheny County Conservation District, a position that involves connecting communities in environmental need with funding and resources, along with soil testing, tree planting, and stormwater technical assistance.

When asked to reflect on her time contributing to—and often leading—grassroots campaigns to improve our environment, Olivia admitted that working in advocacy is “really challenging.” Still, she remains unwavering in her dedication to public health and environmental reform and is grateful for the experiences that have led her to today, including those set in motion so many years ago at Falk.