For over a decade, PPCHS has been home to one of Charter’s oldest students. More than 56 years old, this student continues to roam around campus in the mornings– yet still has not graduated. She’s often spotted near the U building and student parking lot surrounded by classmates and friends, like most other students. Except this one is furry and has four legs, and a tail. 

In 2014,  Mr. Bayer was in the student parking lot when he spotted a tiny kitten. “We kept thinking it was just passing through. It wasn’t that moment I immediately addressed it, I have to admit,” he recalls. Surprisingly clean for a seemingly stray kitten, he decided to let her roam freely for the time being. Yet, sure enough, days later she was spotted once more strolling through campus. He explains that “it was just one of those things where somebody was like ‘Hey, that cat’s still here!’ Is it still here?” With nothing but a collar, a nametag reading Geneva, and a phone number, Mr. Bayer decided it was time to officially investigate Charter’s kitten mystery. 

After calling the phone number on Geneva’s tag, Mr. Bayer was directed to a woman living in East Hollywood—with 10 more cats. “I said ‘Hey, your cat Geneva is at our school. Please come and get her.’” After a quick meetup by the bus stop, Geneva was officially safely returned home. For a week, at least. Stumped, he recalls “Geneva shows up again, and I’m like, Geneva’s back?” After another meetup, Mr. Bayer returned once again to campus. Yet this time, Geneva returned alongside him. “She said to me, ‘You know what? I think I’m just going to leave her here.’ And I said, ‘You can’t just leave her here, it’s a school! We can’t take care of her!” However, after repeated insistence that Geneva was going to find her way back to Charter again, Mr. Bayer eventually gave way, adding PPCHS’s first official cat-on-campus to the staff. “She was like our first mental health therapist at our school, I think. You get some sort of calming feeling from just being around her. She’s always been friendly and behaved,” he says. 

And now, 10 years later, Geneva has become an integral part of campus life. She has a knack for bringing Charter together—whether that be coercing faculty to feed her, or cuddling up to students asking to pet her, Geneva has united the campus in various ways. And always true to her daily schedule, first thing in the morning Geneva is always on time for school to greet the students. “Whenever I see Geneva in the morning it always 100% makes me feel better. Seeing [her] always makes my day better,” sophomore Joseph Koch shared. Although met with initial reluctance to remain on campus, Geneva quickly found her way into the hearts of students and faculty alike. “Somebody that once worked for the swim aquatics center, I think, thought she was a stray and needed help—and took her home! Mrs. Diaz, who was the assistant principal then at the middle school, contacted that lady and was like ‘Hey, you need to bring our cat back!’ You can’t take our cat, you’re not helping that cat. That cat wants to be here,” Mr. Bayer recalls. 

Throughout the years, many other animals have managed to make their way onto school grounds– dozens of stray feral cats, alligators, bulls, monkeys, and even a rare exotic bird. However, none of them have made the lasting impression on everyone at Pines Charter as Geneva has. This friendly feline has made a paw print-shaped indent on everyone’s hearts throughout the years she’s spent at Charter and will continue to do so for the rest of Charter history.