Routines were never Maria Mroz’s thing. 

Before pursuing high school student counseling, the Elk Grove High School counselor was an accountant, and her day-to-day routine started to wear on her.

“Having been an accountant prior to going into teaching, I hated the routine of my day,” Mroz said. “In counseling, you can have a to-do list every day ready for you, but as soon as you walk in, that goes out the window and the day changes. I love that aspect of it, there is no routine here at all.”

School counseling kept her days interesting, and after 22 years of it at Elk Grove, Maria Mroz is ready to retire with her husband and dog to sunny St. Augustine, Florida. 

Prior to counseling, Mroz taught at Roberto Clemente Community Academy, a high school in West Town, Chicago. She followed in the footsteps of her mother who was also an educator at Clemente. Mroz was a counselor there as well.

“Her principal called me and asked me if I wanted the job saying, ‘Make it easy on us, we don’t need to change the name on the door that way,’” Mroz said in an email. 

Each and every student that Mroz counsels, she says, is unique and considerate of new perspectives, which is what drew Mroz to help students with their future alongside inspirational staff and environment.

One of the many things that Mroz sais she will miss the most are all her students’ smiles and conversations, something she said she values in her career. 

After retiring, Mroz said she’ll have more time to do some of her many hobbies like shop, travel, attend concerts and listen to her all-time favorite musician, Bruce Springsteen.