Natalie Hatcher Turns Closed Doors Into Open Futures for High School Students - The Piper - Carnegie Mellon University

July 08, 2026

By Rob Biertempfel rbiertem(through)andrew.cmu.edu

Long before she began ushering high schoolers into Carnegie Mellon University’s classrooms, Natalie Hatcher needed someone to open the door for her.

“I was a first-generation college student, so I know how terrifying the process can be without someone leading the way,” Hatcher said. “For me, it was my best friend in high school. She sat me down, told me, ‘You have to go to college,’ and made me fill out the applications.”

Decades later, that memory informs Hatcher’s work as senior outreach program manager for the School of Computer Science (SCS). In this role, she leads the CS Pathways initiative, which creates computer science opportunities for students from all backgrounds, including the AI Scholars (AIS) and Computer Science Scholars (CSS) programs.