HAMPTON, Va. — Camille Pereira can include a piece of hardware from the Big South Conference amongst her graduation gits. Though that may not be entirely fair, gifts are given, hardware is EARNED. Pereira earned her freshly minted George A. Christenberry Award, an award given to the male and female student-athlete who attain the highest GPA during their undergraduate collegiate careers.
It doesn't get much higher than Pereira's 4.00 in Kinesiology. and yet the center midfielder for Hampton was surprised when she found out about her academic achievements.
"It was really interesting, I guess I never realized while I was in school how well I was doing," says Pereira, who was borderline startled by her pristine grade point average.
Perhaps that stems from a life of balancing school, sport and constant movement.
"I'm from Guam, I moved when I was four. We went to Washington state, Italy, Germany, Korea, back to the states for a little bit, then I finished high school back in Germany," recalls Pereira. From place to place, soccer became a mainstay, a connector and a passion. With that came the balance that would carry her as a college student athlete. During hour long car rides to practice in Germany or on the train for training in Korea, Perreira found pockets of time for homework. She told her Dad she wanted to play college when she was 8 years old, while her parents instituted the rule that missing school meant missing soccer practice.
She's never lived in the same place for the more than three years, including playing for two different colleges. Through it all she's maintained the grades, and the game, worthy of hardware.