Elementary counselor wins life achievement award

Bobbi English, a counselor at Hilliard and Holly Lane elementary schools, was selected by the Ohio School Counselors Association to receive the Mary Claytor/Charles Weaver Life Achievement & Membership Award.

The award honors and recognizes a counselor who has contributed with excellence to the school counseling profession for 15 years or more.

English will be honored during the All Ohio Counseling Conference in Columbus on Nov. 3. In her nomination letter, Holly Lane Principal Mimi Verdone called English a caring professional.

“As an elementary counselor for 34 years, she models the kindness and empathy that we all strive to emulate,” Verdone said. “Bobbi has a remarkable energy level and an exceptional work ethic.”

English was nominated for the award by Verdone, along with former Hilliard Principal Mary Flanagan, Holly Lane kindergarten teacher Suzie Zkiab and Holly Lane physical education teacher Nick Miller.

In her nomination letter, Flanagan said English’s legacy will be “that she always did whatever she could to assure that students were ready to learn to the greatest extent possible.”

“Mrs. English is a team player who contributes to all facets of the school program,” Flanagan said. “Her day is constantly filled with student contact which might include lunch with new students, meeting with a small group to discuss making good behavior choices, and presenting lessons to classrooms of students on an important area of the guidance curriculum.”