Featured Finalist: Lisa Delgadillo
Lisa Delgadillo, school counselor at Hibbard Elementary School, in Chicago, Ill. is a 2025 School Counselor of the Year® finalist. She has been a school counselor since 2013. Hibbard Elementary School, RAMP® school, serves 943 students, grades pre-K–6.
"Lisa does a tremendous job of advocating for every student at Hibbard,” said Sharon Davila, a clinical social worker at Hibbard Elementary School’s school-based health clinic. “Lisa has been instrumental in developing a bridge between students and staff to ensure that every student receives compassionate care.” Read more about Lisa.
What Makes Lisa Tick?
What do you find most rewarding about being a school counselor?
Helping my students to become leaders in their community is the most rewarding aspect for me. For example, as the sponsor of our Student Leadership Council, I supported my students with projects that were important to them, including writing letters to elders in the neighborhood and creating welcome kits for new students. One of the activities they were most excited about was celebrating Pride month. They created posters with positive messages, wrote morning announcements, visited classrooms to talk about what Pride means to them and passed out rainbow pins to staff and students. This enthusiasm led to us creating the first Gender and Sexuality Alliance at Hibbard. We continue to grow our group and efforts and plan to have our own school Pride parade this year.
What brings you joy?
Hiking on forest trails with my children and husband. Spending time with all of my family.
How do you help students thrive?
By creating a safe environment for them to share and learn.
What’s the most adrenaline-inducing adventure you’ve ever experienced?
Climbing the pyramids in Mexico with my family when I was a kid.
When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
An artist.
What’s one bucket-list item you want to accomplish in 2025?
To visit the Redwood National and State Parks.
If you were asked to cook a signature dish, what would it be?
Baked fish with a lemon, butter and parmesan topping with rice and vegetables.
What’s a weird fact you know?
A hamster’s teeth never stop growing. I buy plenty of chewing sticks for our pet.
What’s your favorite dessert?
Lemon cake with cream cheese frosting.
If you could have an unlimited supply of something for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Homemade, healthy lunches packed for every school day.
How would you describe your job to a 5 year old?
My job is to make sure all of our students feel happy and safe at school and to help when they are having a tough day. I also get to visit classrooms and do fun activities with students to help them learn about jobs they might like to have someday.
Do you have any hidden talents? What can you do?
Finding vintage treasures at rummage sales and thrift stores.
What’s the one place in your city you tell visitors not to miss?
The Museum of Science and Industry
What’s your favorite smell and why?
Fresh coffee brewing in the morning. Those first sips start the day off right.
What’s one important skill you think everyone should have?
Listening.
What could you talk about for 30 minutes with no notes?
All of the cool things I learned from other school counselors at the ASCA Annual Conference in Kansas City last summer.
You have your own late-night talk show – who would you invite as your first guest?
Reshma Saujani, the founder of Girls Who Code.
How did you get into school counseling? How did you know it was the right path for you?
School counseling is my second career, and I found it in a roundabout way. After I got my bachelor’s degree, I was a television and media producer and was working on a series about mental health. While doing interviews for the show with mental health professionals and people who had different conditions, I became curious about psychology and wanted to learn more. I signed up for my first psychology class at a community college and then just kept going.
I was ready for a career shift, and when I started exploring graduate programs, school counseling stood out to me. I’d taught children’s art classes before and loved working with kids. Both of my parents had careers in education, and I really valued the role of educators. When I started talking with school counselors and professors, I knew I wanted to be a part of this work. School counselors’ enthusiasm and drive is infectious. I was absolutely sure it was the right path for me once I started at my first school. No matter what challenges I faced on the job, every morning I was excited to get to school and work with my students. I still feel that way now 12 years later.