Administration hires new evening-hours CCC counselor, Ruthie Robles

Naomi Tsuang

News Editor

The Mira Costa administration hired Ruthie Robles as the College and Career Center’s new evening-hours College Counselor on Oct. 11, in order to replace former CCC evening-hours counselor Elizabeth Rieken.

After Rieken left the district due to personal reasons, administration hired Robles, Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale said. Robles began at Costa on Oct. 23. According to Robles, she and the two other CCC counselors, Caryn Ramirez and Shalyn Tharayil, work to provide students with information regarding college, admissions and the application process. As the only evening-hours counselor, Robles works Monday through Thursday from 12-7 p.m.

“Mira Costa is a very high achieving school and we have a lot of good people here on [the CCC] team,” Robles said. “My priority is to make sure that students are being serviced well and have the knowledge they need to be prepared for college.”

Prior to working at Costa, Robles worked in the Los Angeles Unified School District for two and a half years as a high school Guidance and College Counselor.

“As the evening-hours counselor, it is very attractive to be able to engage families and give them the knowledge that they need,” Robles said. “The availability as an evening hours counselor is different than a [regular CCC counselor]. I am here until 7 p.m., so I can take parent appointments and students can come in after practice for their sports. I think that makes meeting students pretty convenient.”

Robles’ main responsibility is to guide students through their college applications, revise their essays and help with questions regarding the college application process as a whole, she said.

“I want to create more opportunities for parents and students to come [to the CCC],” Robles said. “I want to make sure their needs are being heard and met [so that] I am able to give them information and guidance that they need.”