ALUMNI: Catherine Pereira
By Annie Cui,
Bluedevilhub.com Staff–
Catherine Pereira moved to Davis back when there were only about 25,000 residents–less than half of today’s population. The Davis High she currently works at as a counselor is different from the DHS she attended as a student. The class of 1980 not only had different staff members and buildings, but a four-year high school experience.
When Pereira was in eighth grade, Emerson Junior High closed due to remodeling and students merged with Holmes Junior High. All freshmen were moved to DHS.
“It was an easy transition, and I liked being here as a ninth grader,” Pereira said.
Living in a college town during her high school years gave Pereira awareness of the value of continuing her education beyond DHS.
“We were definitely influenced by the university. It felt as if it were a normal progression for everyone to go straight to college,” she said.
Pereira spent four years studying human development at UC Davis and ended her Davis education by attending graduate school in Sacramento.
In 1992, Pereira took a break from Davis and moved to various places such as Texas, Georgia, Arizona, Colorado and Germany. In 2002, she returned to raise her family in the town she loves.
After working in human resources jobs, Pereira found an interest in talking to other people, and became a DHS counselor in 2007.
Pereira enjoys being back at the school she came from.
“It is fun for me to see my classmates’ kids come through the school, including my own kids,” she said.
Pereira is also a “soccer mom” and is very involved in her children’s lives. When she’s not counseling and at soccer games, she enjoys reading and getting together with friends.
Though many things have changed since her 1980 graduation, Pereira still keeps in touch with her best friend from high school, Susan Swift.
The two close friends have known each other since 1977. Even though they are a year apart, they hung out throughout college and shared many memories, such as football games and Picnic Days.
Swift describes Pereira as “fun-loving and talkative, and devoted to those she cares about.”
