Dr. Seuss once said, “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”

But it’s very hard not to cry over the fact that come today Cal High will say goodbye to the school’s beloved college and career counselor, Harvalee Grimm.

Grimm is retiring today after helping guide Cal students toward their careers and colleges for the past 10 years.

“I feel so fortunate to be ending my work career doing this with the students,” Grimm said.

A UC Davis alumni, Grimm is the mother of two sons and a daughter, and a grandmother of one boy. All three of her children attended Cal.

She said she got to watch all three of them graduate and jokingly claimed that she would be the “last one” to leave.

Grimm’s last 10 years as a college and career coordinator has consisted of helping and advising students about which direction they should go in life. She often did this by helping students finding middle ground between what is practical and makes sense, and learning what their passions are.

“It’s always been of interest to me,” said Grimm.

Prior to working as a career coordinator, Grimm worked as a secretary in the office for eight years, from 1998 to 2006.

She left Cal High in 2006 to help the district open Dougherty Valley, its first new high school in 30 years.

Grimm said she was involved in everything from choosing the school colors and mascot to hiring the staff.

She worked as an office manager there for a year. After that, she decided to come back to Cal.

“It was a new experience,” Grimm said. “I missed working with the students. I missed the one-on-one.”

In her entire career, Grimm said her favorite part of it all was a program she introduced to the students, the Brown Bag Speaker series, where different people in prominent professions came to speak to the students.

“It gave me an opportunity to reach out to the community that would include the parent, business and college communities to bring current, relevant information to our students,” Grimm said.

Grimm’s ability to provide valuable and amazing advice to the students has always come from a place of interest and genuine fascination with the person sitting across from her rather that obligation or duty.

Grimm has always been a deep well of information for students.

“For me being able to provide students with the tools toward that end is very rewarding work,” Grimm said.

The school has not started to look for Grimm’s replacement, said Jenny Meads, who serves as Principal Sarah Cranford’s secretary.

Hopefully luck is on their side because they have a very difficult task ahead and some very large shoes to fill.

Cal is losing one of it’s very best and most pivotal staff members, who does so much with very rare immediate award.

“We who have been at Cal High – worked at Cal High – a long time hold to a heartfelt belief, ‘Once a Grizzly, always a Grizzly…’” Grimm said. “It was shared with me long ago by wonderful colleagues of mine who have since retired, and those words remain near and dear to my heart.

“Thank you to the Cal High Community for allowing me to be a part of your lives.”