By all accounts, she’s well-trained to deal with the unexpected.
But that didn’t keep the tears from flowing when Gwinnett County’s Robin Zorn was named Tuesday as National School Counselor of the Year.
“I’m just in shock,” Zorn told family, colleagues and dozens of schoolchildren sitting seven rows deep on the cafeteria floor at Mason Elementary in Duluth.
Other students and staff watched the surprise announcement on closed-circuit television from their classrooms.
Zorn, who has been a school counselor in Gwinnett for nearly two decades, had previously been named Georgia Elementary School Counselor of the Year.
In October, she was named one of five finalists for the 2014 School Counselor of the Year award by the American School Counselor Association. The award recognizes school counselors who devote their career to serving as advocates — and in some cases lifesavers — for students. She was the only finalist from Georgia.
J. Alvin Wilbanks, superintendent and CEO of Gwinnett Public Schools, spoke of Zorn’s achievements.
“People who know your work and know what you do say you have a tremendous impact on children and their families,” Wilbanks said. “It’s a pleasure to recognize someone who works for this school, this school district and the state.”
Those groups “are proud of you, as is the nation,” he told Zorn.
Zorn is credited with being a driving force behind the creation of the school district’s Elementary School Peer Leadership Conference, which launched in 2010. She has her master’s degree and specialist’s degree from Georgia State University in school counseling.
Zorn told students in the audience that “seeing your faces here today is my big reward.”
“You make this job easy and you make this job fun,” she said.
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