By Yogesh Patel
Video by Blake Manfre and Kim Dalrymple
Having your cell phone confiscated usually means two things: paying $15 to get your phone back and meeting probably the most interesting person in the entire school.
Cathy Rohde, already known as the AP secretary and mother to CHS students Tyler and Erica Rohde, has had a long career ranging from her work as a private investigator to author, and her current place at Coppell High School.
Prior to becoming a private investigator during the early 90s, Rohde worked as an examiner for polygraph charts, more commonly known as a lie detector. That led to P.I. work as a loss prevention specialist for several different companies.
And, for a time, she worked with a team of former F.B.I. agents investigating workman’s comp fraud for insurance companies. As the decade progressed, and the internet made the databases used by P.I.s more accessible, investigation work became much scarcer, leading Rohde to leave the field behind.
In addition to being a former investigator, Mrs. Rohde is also an author as a hobby. When staying at home with her kids, she would start writing down ideas that would become the subject of her book. After stumbling on the ideas in a filing cabinet, Rohde began making preparations for her book, including joining a writing club as well as taking classes at North Lake College.
The result was published Bunco Night. Bunco Night is about a group of women whose personal lives are emotionally revealed on game night through the voice of the narrator. Bunco is a team game played with three dice.
Currently, Mrs. Rohde is working on her second novel. Although not much is known about the project, she has revealed that the story deals with a main character who is an F.B.I. agent.
Rohde’s career with C.I.S.D. began with her substitute teaching, which eventually lead to her becoming the secretary of the assistant principals. Now, she is in her 4th year of what Rhode calls “the [most] fun job she has ever had”.
With her current position, Rohde is also in charge of the office aides that assist her and the APs in their office. Her popularity amongst office aides run high, with Scott Mitchell saying how “Mrs. Rohde lets us chill in her office”.
