Mrs. Kristine Fleming, counselor for students with last names ranging from “Co” to “Ga,” is retiring her position at Cathedral Catholic after the 2014-2015 school year. Before coming to Cathedral, she guided nearly 600 Mira Mesa High School students through the college application process every year.

Mrs. Fleming previously retired from Mira Mesa, but always had a feeling that she retired a bit too early. “I missed working with kids,” said Mrs. Fleming. She began working with seniors at Cathedral Catholic in 2010, and when Mrs. Ashley Bascom took her pregnancy leave during the 2013-2014 school year, Mrs. Fleming took on the counselor-less students for the rest of the school year. With Mrs. Bascom’s return, Mrs. Fleming decided to continue her counseling duties at Cathedral. She had enjoyed filling-in for Mrs. Bascom, and thought she’d “try it again for another year.”

Soon after beginning her full-time counseling job, Mrs. Fleming had the slightest regret about her decision, “I realized, you know, that I really enjoyed being retired,” she said. On her spare time, Mrs. Fleming enjoys volunteering with the San Diego Natural History Museum as a “Museum Whaler,” a naturalist who guides local whale watching tours. Once a week for four hours, Mrs. Fleming heads out on a tour boat into San Diego Bay, informing everyone from students on local middle school field-trips to excited tourists about the whales of San Diego. From the whale poster in her office to her gold-charm whale tail necklace, it is evident that the whale is Mrs. Fleming’s favorite animal. She is eager to spend more time pursuing her passion, which is centered around wildlife and, of course, whales.

Mrs. Fleming has an extensive travel résumé, and between working at Mira Mesa and Cathedral, she was able to add a few more stamps to her passport. She traveled to Hawaii, Mexico, Norway, Iceland, England, Antarctica, and Alaska, twice. Her favorite of these was Antarctica because of the magnificent wildlife. Mrs. Fleming and her husband began their journey by departing from Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of South America. They crossed the Drake Passage into Antarctica, and explored the entire Antarctic Peninsula.

Mrs. Fleming also thoroughly enjoyed her visit to Iceland. “Iceland was beautiful,” she said. While in Iceland, Mrs. Fleming traveled up to the Arctic Circle to go whale watching. She plans to go back to the Arctic Circle to Spitsbergen – a city off the coast of Norway. “It’s where the polar bears are,” said Mrs. Fleming. The culture of Norway is European, but different than anything you’d encounter in Europe. “It’s very Scandinavian, there are so many things that are connected to the sea and to the oceans, so there’s a lot of fishing, a lot of birds – all kinds of wildlife,” said Mrs. Fleming.

As she bids farewell to Cathedral, Mrs. Fleming has summer plans to sail down the Mississippi – from St. Paul, Minnesota to St. Louis, Missouri. “I’ve been very fortunate in my life to be able to travel around,” she said. Even so, Mrs. Fleming has remained living in “America’s Finest City,” San Diego. She said, “We’ve thought of moving to other places, but there are just so many wonderful things here.”