Retiring Cinnaminson School Counselor Earns Top Honor

CINNAMINSON, NJ — Donna Lobascio began her career more than 25 years ago as a teacher, but she soon realized something important: the students she was teaching needed more counseling than teaching.

She said it was a “natural progression” to move from life as a teacher to life as a student counselor. She went back to school, got her master’s degree in counseling and has been doing what she believes she was meant to do ever since.

The Cinnaminson Public School District’s Supervisor of Guidance and Counseling Services is retiring at the end of the year. In her final year, she has been recognized as one of the district's Governor's Educator of the Year and the Educational Services Professional award recipients.

The program "highlights educational innovation, student achievement, the rewards of teaching, and important services outside the classroom environment that lead to student success," according to the state's website.

“Very few people knew I was retiring,” Lobascio said. “Sometimes when people know you’re retiring, they’ll honor you, but I got this before people knew I was retiring.”

Lobascio, who handles the caseload at the high school and is the supervisor for all counselors in the district, said she was humbled and grateful to receive the honor.

“It’s a wonderful way to capstone my career,” Lobascio said. “I’m not doing anything special. I’m just doing what I do.”

The most important part of the job for Lobascio is the impact she's had on the lives of the students that she has come into contact with, and the impact they've had on her life.

When first meeting a student, they might be shy because they are hurting, or they have faced some trauma in their life. Lobascio looks at that moment as seeing the beginning of their potential.

Witnessing the student’s four-year transformation is what she’ll always remember about her career.

“I feel privileged. Not everyone gets the opportunity to see that,” Lobascio said.

Students have to trust counselors to open up to them, and parents have always been receptive to the things she’s said.

Lobascio went through her own transformative experience when she was a senior at The College of New Jersey. She studied art therapy in England, and while she was there, decided to go backpacking through Europe. She went back every four years for the same experience.

She met people in the country she was in and from all over the world. She used a book to guide her in the days before cell phones and social media. She would show up in a country with no reservations and let the adventure take her where it might.

“It changed my life,” Lobascio said. “It opened up my perspective of the world.”

Her adventure isn’t over yet. Lobascio said she’s leaving her position to see what the next chapter of her life brings. She has no plans, and she’s just going to see what comes to her.

Before then, she and the other teachers in the Cinnaminson School District who were recognized with Teacher of the Year honors will all attend a countywide recognition event in the spring, and will be honored at the May 12 Cinnaminson Board of Education meeting. Read more here: Cinnaminson Schools Announce Educators Of The Year

Next, each county will select a teacher of the year, with a state teacher of the year being named in the fall. Last year, Haddonfield's Kimberly Dickstein was named the New Jersey State Teacher of the Year.

See related:
New Albany School Alum Named School's Top Educator
Reading Teacher Named Top Educator At Cinnaminson Middle School
4th Grade Teacher Named Top Educator At Eleanor Rush School
Chemistry Teacher Named Top Educator At Cinnaminson High School