Dinh Luu, EOPS counselor, retiring after 27 years of working for Glendale College, encourages students to “make the most of the system.”

“I’ll miss the students (at the college) also the students at the high schools where I visit.”

As a counselor, Luu goes to high schools to recruit students for GCC. Luu says that there are opportunities for students who attend community colleges such as in Glendale and those who need them may not pay enough attention.

Luu came to America in 1975 from Vietnam with a bachelor’s degree and graduated from UCLA with a master’s degree in social welfare in 1982.

Luu has been working at GCC ever since as an EOPS counselor. She was once interviewed by a newspaper, but was listed incorrectly as a bilingual aide, she said that was not correct because she isn’t an aide, but a counselor, and listing her as an aide may cause others to look down on her.

There have been some tricky cultural issues to deal with during her career. Vietnamese men, she said, have difficulty accepting her as a counselor because in her country women don’t have such responsibilities.

Dec. 18 will be her last day on campus.