Monrovia High Administrator Receives Award for Outstanding Citizenship, Commitment to Student Success

Susan Hirsch, the architect behind Monrovia High School’s Wellness Center, says you must view the world through the eyes of others to facilitate healing and change.
 
With this outlook, Hirsch transforms the lives of students and families throughout Monrovia and, on Jan. 20, earned the City’s Chamber of Commerce Iris Award, Monrovia’s equivalent of a Citizen of the Year Award.
 
Throughout her 30 years of service in Monrovia Unified, Hirsch has served first as a special education teacher, then as an administrator creating and leading intervention programs for at-risk students and establishing parent education opportunities through the Adult Education program. She also currently serves as a Community Services Commissioner for the City of Monrovia and as the education coordinator for the Healing Connections Task Force – a California School Board Association Golden Bell recipient for innovative and effective programs.
 
Hirsch drew on her skills in working with at-risk students to develop Monrovia High School’s Wellness Center, which is in its first year of operation. The center offers students and their families mental health support, counseling, tutoring, family support, a voluntary pro-active probation program, family/parent education programs in English and Spanish, and serves as a quiet place for students to decompress and obtain the support they need.