Volunteer College Counselor Linda Zimring was extremely honored when her hard work and dedication to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) finally paid off.

“I was surprised and honored,” Zimring said. “I was a career person in the district for 37 years. I’m doing a lot of different things, including college counseling and it was the first time that I was honored for something. It felt good.”

Zimring was awarded the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA) Community Volunteer Award for her excellent work and dedication to LAUSD. Principal Deb Smith and Guidance Counselor Martina Torres attended the awards ceremony with her which took place on May 23.

Zimring has been the volunteer college counselor at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School (DPMHS) for the last ten years, working with all students to achieve their college goals.

“I think that what I add is a feature that only large high schools have which is a college counselor that just does college counseling,” Zimring said. “I think it’s really important to have a college counselor that doesn’t have other duties because they can do the things that are necessary to connect kids to the right colleges.”

Zimring said that she will continue her career as a college counselor and will help out DPMHS for the years to come.

“I still maintain networking relationships across the country with colleges, I still go on college tours, I still go to conferences,” Zimring said. “I stay active in the profession so that I’m updated and get the most updated information to students.”

The award finally gave Zimring the validation that her talent of being a college counselor in LAUSD is recognized.

“Nobody does what they do in order to get an award or to get recognized,” Zimring said. “It’s just nice that you are.”