Island resident, Louise Chiprut Berman, has been named Washington School Counselors Association’s Elementary School Counselor of the year.

Berman worked for Mercer Island schools, teaching LAP at Island Park Elementary School. She began counseling at the University of Washington as an undergraduate admission counselor/evaluator. After moving to Mercer Island, she worked at the elementary level.

In addition to her current position as K-6 counselor at Seattle Hill Elementary School in the Snohomish School District, Berman is on the teaching faculty at City University’s Albright School of Education, in the graduate department of Guidance and Counseling. She is passionate about teaching anti-bullying curricula to her 600 students and loves volunteering. Most recently, she served on the MIYFS advisory board as a tutor in the Powerful Readers program for Seattle Public Schools, and as a guest speaker in Ms. Calvo’s second grade class at West Mercer Elementary school. She has been a member of the Washington School Counselors ethics committee since 2006.

Louise and her husband, Leonard, have lived on Mercer Island since 1988. They have two daughters, Susan Berman McCoard, MIHS (2001), and Mandy Berman, MIHS (2009). The award was presented at the 2013 WSCA Conference in February.