Admittedly, Holly Grzyb (Chisholm) said she never saw herself working in the Counseling Office at Lapeer High School.

Funny how fate works.

A 1990 graduate of Lapeer West High School, Grzyb is now in her sixth year as the counseling secretary at LHS.

"I am currently working on my bachelor's degree in Marketing from Baker College so I can retire and spend my days sorting and selling vintage jewelry," said Grzyb.

Looking back, Grzyb said the best part of going to school in Lapeer was the friends she made at West, Hadley, Murphy and Zemmer. She also had a handful of teachers that were positive influences in her life.

"I'll always remember Sharon Peterson and Jackie Piechowski for having amazing classes," Grzyb said. "And my counselor, Mr. James Snyder, for seeing when I was struggling and helping me find the right direction."

After high school, Grzyb earned an associate's degree from Mott Community College in Office Information Systems (Office Management), another associate's from Davenport University in Accounting, got married and then welcomed two amazing daughters into her family.

Grzyb also worked as an office manager, bookkeeper, assistant controller and accounts payable clerk until she took a job with Lapeer Community Schools to have the same schedule as her daughters. Before joining the LHS counseling office, Grzyb was the building paraprofessional at Mayfield, a substitute teacher, a parapro at Rolland-Warner and media specialist at Zemmer and Rolland-Warner.

Overall, LCS helped mold Grzyb into the person she is today and she has advice for the younger generation coming through the district.

"How did LCS make me who I am today?" Grzyb asked. "I'll be honest. I wasn't a good kid. I was a troubled kid, but some of the staff members saw that and were there for me and helped point me in the right direction. And the funny thing is, although I never planned on working in the high school counseling office as an adult, it just happened that way. The people in the West Counseling Office helped me the most.

"So going off that, my advice to current students would be to trust the adults in the building and go to them if you need help. No one goes into education for the big paycheck. They go because they care about the students. And it's never too late to make a life change."

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